The Children
by whitestreak
Summary: This story is about a young girl named Penny. She has a weird habit of buying only self-picked/special transformers. But, one day to her delight/surprise they come to life! Based off of the G1 characters but does NOT follow its timeline.
1. Buying you

The Children Chapter 1

Buying you: Prologue_**  
**_

Penny walked in the store her allowance in hand. The new transformers toys had just come out and she wanted to be one of the first to get them. Surprisingly not many of them had been bought yet. Probably aren't very popular she thought with sad look. She glanced at each of the names as she past

"I have Sunny and Sides oh I have you to…aha" She said seeing new names upon the shelves. Mirage, Cliffjumper and Blades were the new ones that had been released. Instead of just grabbing the first ones on the shelf she went through them she always liked finding one that she felt was special to her. She scooped up her carefully picked toys and brought them to the counter.

"Hey. Penny" the cashier said in a friendly voice

"Hey, Paul! Any I missed" she responded happily

He looked over the toys she placed on the counter

"Well…" he trailed off.

"What?" she asked wondering what he was going to say

"There is one more but he isn't being released until tomorrow so technically I can't give him to you plus were already on back order…" she looked up at him questionably

"Who is he?" if it was another Optimus Prime reissue she was going to puke couldn't they just stick with one design?

"His names Blaster he is a working tape deck" To Paul's dismay Penny's eyes grew wide.

"I don't have him yet!" She looked back at Paul her eyes forming big puppy eyes

"Fine, since your our best customer but if the manger catches me you have to find me a good job that pays twice as much!" She nodded as he headed in the back. She stood there waiting and soon enough Paul came out with the toy.

" He's about forty bucks not cheap" he warned her but she already had her money out and was at the counter. He rang everything through and she paid.

"Thanks, Paul" she said smiling and skipping out of the store bags in hand.

She walked up to her house and entered. Wait until my friends find out I blew my pay on some more Transformers toys she thought with a laugh. She went up to her room and opened them.

"That's right it's stuffy in there isn't it" she said placing them with her ever-growing collection. She then ran back downstairs and started making dinner. Tying her long brown hair back into a ponytail she stared at a picture on her mirror she sighed her thoughts consuming her but the ring of her small chicken awoke her from her thoughts. She ran back down the stairs taking it out of the oven and placing it on her plate. She ate silently and alone.

* * *

Well that's the first chapter. I introduced Penny she's the main character

Paul probably won't show up again it a slow start but you'll understand the title

it was short but it will get longer in further chapters,

Later

**EDITED AS OF NOV17TH/11**  
I wanted to edit this chapter for the main reason of explaining to my readers that this is much more of a prologue opposed to an important part of the story  
This chapter along with a couple of the others were written over two years ago.  
I'd like to believe my writing has improved now :)  
So please read through these chapters so you can get to the better ones!  
Thanks!


	2. Your Alive?

Yeah! Chapter 2 is up Starts dancing It's way longer then the first one :)

Thanks for the Review on Chapter 1!I tried to correct everything on this on (i.e. grammar errors)

* * *

_**The Children**_

_**Chapter 2:Your Alive??**_

Penny awoke with a start. The dream she just had was strange and it soon became very foggy. She blinked a few times then looked over at her shelves covered in her transformers and noticed Sunstreaker was missing from his spot beside his brother.

"Sunny?" she asked getting up and looking around on the floor. Where could he have gone she wondered as she turned to face her bed to see him laying on the other side of her bed. She picked him up and placed him up on the shelf where he belonged. She looked at it puzzlingly then grabbed Blaster and her clothes. She put him on the bathroom counter and popping in a tape. She then got in the shower and started listening to the music suddenly there was a blip in the middle of the song it almost sounded like a distant voice. She finished her shower and brought Blaster downstairs she placed him on the table and re-played the tape. This time it happened several times she gave it a confused look. Was it broken she thought as she checked her watch and quickly spooned some cereal into her mouth she was going to be late for school if she stayed any longer. She left the house making sure to grab Blaster and stuff him in her bag.

What a drag she thought walking away from her school she was going back to the small toy store so she could have Paul look at Blaster. As she walked she heard her bag unzip she turned around and no one was there. Suddenly she heard a clatter as she spun around she saw Blaster sitting on the ground she quickly bent down checking for damage.

"You ok?" she asked self-consciously and to her surprise it let out a blip. She quickly hugged it close to her and ran towards the store.

"Paul!!" she yelled entering the store he looked up at her with a surprised look on his face he was dealing with an angry looking woman and when she turned to face Penny the anger seemed to grow

"SO, You can find one for this little girl but not for me" she said glaring at the object in Penny's arms. She then walked over and tried to take it away from her Penny held onto it tight refusing to let go.

"Let go kid! I had this on back order before anyone else knew about it so this is technically mine!!" Paul jumped over the counter and attempted to help Penny out but instead the women elbowed him in the gut knocking the wind out of him.

"NO!! LEAVE ME ALONE!!" Penny yelled out and suddenly the tape player in her hands let out a loud screech and lit up. It blew them both back and next time Penny opened her eyes there was a fully transformed Blaster fists ready to fight the older women.

"No one messes with my girl like that!" he said in a loud voice that was identical to the one she heard on the TV show. She just stared at the tape deck that was attempting to defend her she was torn between running up and hugging him and running away. The women had also heard and seen the little guy.

"He's alive!" she ran over and picked up the now kicking Blaster. Without thinking Penney got up and plowed full force into the women landing the small transformer in her arms. By now Paul had gotten up and seen the whole ordeal his face turning white.

"P-Penny" he stuttered, " I think you should give the women the toy" he said getting up and walking over to her

"Just give it to me and you can go back to your normal life" he said extending his shaky hand.

"Don't do it babe," Blaster begged. Her thoughts went around in circles she could give Blaster to him and go back to her normal lonely life or she could keep him and have company again. She held Blaster tighter and booked it out of the store.

"I knew you wouldn't do it," Blaster said happily clinging to her.

She arrived home and securely locked the door behind her. She panted sliding to the floor. Blaster slipped out of her arms standing up he looked at her and walked over to the fridge looking up at the handle he jumped and managed to open the fridge

"Um.. Well I tried but I know I won't be able to reach the water and even if I could how would I get to the glasses?" he said glancing up at the cupboard that was above the counter. This made Penny laugh. She got up and walked over to the small bot picked him up and placed him on the counter. She then bent down and took out the water. When she turned around Blaster had managed to get a glass out.

"For you" he said sliding it over to Penny. She poured a glass and drank it then looked down at the robot now present on her countertop.

"How exactly did you-you know come to life?" she asked a little concerned. He glanced up at her and shrugged.

"I don't know maybe my processor heard ya callin," he said pointing to himself.

"What about energy do you eat anything?" she said looking around her kitchen she knew she didn't have anything that was close to being an energon cube

"You let me worry 'bout that" he said smiling "Jus' don't sell me and I'm happy"

She picked him up and sat down on the couch flipping though the channels on the TV

"Anything you want to watch?" She asked him he shook his head and began flipping through the magazine sitting on her couch. There was a moment of silence as she flipped through the channels. Suddenly he looked up and asked her something she wasn't expecting

"Penny, where's yur parents?" she looked at him surprised

"Well, there on vacation so you can wander the house all you want" she said adding a smile. Blaster gave a nod and started watching the TV. As she flipped he suddenly grabbed her arm and told her to flip back.

"We don't know what caused the sudden outbreak of people destroying toy stores but it is happening over the globe though surprisingly the Toy Blocks store that sat beside…." Blaster had stopped paying attention and was now looking at his hands

"You ok?" she asked seeing the sadness in the little guy's eyes

" Ya, why do ya ask?" he said putting on a fake smile that clearly showed his true feelings. She just gave him a concerned look and glanced at the clock.

"I better get going" She said getting up "I'm going to be late for work" Blaster gave her a surprised look

"You work to?" she nodded

"You want to come?" She replied motioning to the door. He transformed and she lifted him into her arms. Grabbed her workbag then headed outside. How am I going to explain bringing a tape player to a food restaurant? She thought with a smirk.

* * *

So there it is I hope you liked it :D

Don't worry Blaster isn't the only guy who will live! :)

Oh, The reason Blaster doesn't talk properly is just because of his character


	3. Trickster

The Children Chapter 3  
The Trickster

Penny trudged home completely exhausted from work. In one hand she carried Blaster and the other was holding her workbag on her shoulder.

"You sure this work thing is healthy?" Blaster asked obviously worried.

"If it brings money into the house then yes" Penny responded pulling today's pay out of her pocket and showing it to him. Blaster remained silent.

Penny walked up the steps and put the key in the lock. She then stepped into her house as she entered an odd feeling came over her the area seemed to be disturbed. She flicked the light on so she could see and to her surprise written on the wall closest to the door were the words "Sunny Sucks" in a yellow florescent color.

"Blaster?" she said nudging the tape deck. He didn't respond he had fallen into recharge before they had even gotten home. Penny closed the door behind her but, didn't lock it she might need that exit open. She walked into the kitchen and placed Blaster on the counter picking up her mom's ceramic rolling pin as she passed. She slowly walked through the house checking every room as she went. Just as she walked into her room she suddenly fell flat on her face! Then a bucket full of cold water fell on her back. She got up soaking wet. She then heard stifled giggling coming from around the corner outside of her room. She rounded it and there sat Sideswipe clearly alive laughing his head off.

"You should have seen your face when you fell!" he cackled. Penny just glared at him. She picked him up and put him in the crook of her shoulder then marched down the stairs. She placed him up onto her mom's old china cabinet that was beside the kitchen table

"Lets see you get down from there" she said glaring at him.

Blaster who was now transformed was sitting on the counter trying not to laugh at his fellow autobots position.

Penney turned to face Blaster then looked back at Sides with a puzzled look on her face.

"How come Sideswipe is almost the same size as you? I know I bought him smaller than that" Penny said rather confused. Blaster just shrugged.

"Hey, you should be happy his brother didn't wake up to. Then you would be in real trouble," he said letting out the laugh that he had been holding in. This made Penny smile but, she then turned back to Sideswipe

"I hope you like it up there because you're not coming down until morning" she said walking over to Blaster and picking him up.

She headed up the stairs and into her room avoiding the string that the little tyrant had placed there.

"Are you really going to leave him there?" Blaster asked with a sheepish grin. Penney let out a sigh.

"No, I just couldn't. But, he will be cleaning those marking off my wall! Sunstreaker isn't even around why would he bother?" Then it hit her she smacked herself in the forehead making Blaster jump.

"I know now," she said silently. Blaster gave her a puzzled look.

"You know what?' he asked

"It doesn't matter. I'm going to have a shower want to be my music?" Blaster transformed and she carried him into the bathroom with her.

After her shower she carried Blaster downstairs. Sideswipe hadn't left his spot up on top of the china cabinet how could he if he were to jump it would be suicide. He was just quietly sitting up there leaning against the wall arms crossed.

" You ready to come down?" she asked the red and white bot. Sideswipe gave her a confused look.

"Down? But, you said I would be up here all night" Penny smiled

"I'm not that mean But, you will have to clean up the wall tomorrow" she said gesturing to the mess he had made. Sideswipe nodded she picked him up then placed both of her new housemates on the counter.

"Now where are you guys going to sleep?" she asked, "The shelf isn't going to be comfortable anymore. We have a spare bedroom and my parents room" Blaster shook his head

"Could I just sleep with you?" Penny was taken aback she had slept with some of the transformers before but then they were inanimate objects

"Well, I guess so if you really want to…." Blaster nodded happily then looked at Sideswipe.

"Where do you want to go?" Blaster asked.

Sideswipe shrugged

"This place is really big I could hardly get off the shelf yet get up on a bed" Penny smiled

"Okay then, you can sleep with me to" she said picking him up "Unless, of course you prefer the china cabinet?" Sideswipe just remained silent. Penney carried the two up to her room and placed them on the bed. She turned of the light and let them choose for themselves where to sleep. Blaster cuddled up close to her and instantly fell into recharge but Sideswipe just sat on the end of the bed staring at the shelf filled with transformers.

"Sideswipe are you ok?" Penny asked already knowing why the small transformer was upset. Sideswipe nodded in response.

"You miss your brother don't you?" he turned to face her than nodded. She moved away from Blaster being careful not to disturb him then sat Sideswipe on her lap.

"It's ok I wont tell Blaster I know how it feels not to have some one you care about close to you" She sat there with him in her lap his arms crossed in denial but eventually his systems fell into recharge. She then laid him down close to Blaster and then she fell asleep beside the two mechs.

* * *

Yup SIdeswipe was next he isn't his normal fun self because his bro isn't there but when Sunstreaker dose come to life he'll be back to his normal self. :)

High five for "blood shifter" for figuring out one of the character's that were going to show up next before I posted this :D

Chapter 4 will be up as soon as I have time!

**EDITED AS OF NOV17TH/11**  
I fixed the font so it wasnt painful to read  
I would fix up the chapters writing and such as well but since I wrote this so long ago I dont feel right fiddling with it


	4. The Lost but Found

The Children Chapter 4

The Lost But Found

A large pain awakened Penny that originated from her midsection.

"Sideswipe!" she groaned pushing the small robot off of her

"You can't go around jumping on people like that" Sideswipe had obviously not heard her he had a very excited look on his face and Blaster was also missing.

"Penny!" Sideswipe said happily he then pointed to her shelves

"Look" She glanced over and saw Sunstreaker was glowing very lightly. She got up and walked over to him. She put her hand close testing the temperature to see if he was hot. He was emitting some heat but not enough to burn anything.

"Sideswipe, Where's Blaster?" She asked turning she wanted his advice before touching Sunny.

"He said something about a surprise for you." A surprise she thought what was Blaster doing? She turned to leave her room and suddenly had a mech at her feet.

"Where are you going you have to wake up Sunny!" Sideswipe said pulling on her pajama leg.

"I don't know how to Sides" She said picking him up

"Yes, you do!" He replied trying to squirm out of her grasp

"You woke me up before you left to go to school!" Penny stared at him surprised.

"What do you mean?" She put him on the floor so she wouldn't drop him

"Your arm brushed against me when you put Sunny back up!" Penny's eyes widened she walked over to the shelf and slowly extended her hand. She wasn't very sure if she should touch him or not though the annoying pulling on her PJ's made her reach forward. Her hand grasped around Sunny's waist and just as she was expecting nothing happened.

"See Sides, I'm sorry but I don't have any special power that wakes you guys up I'm sorry" She said looking down at his disappointed face. Suddenly it brightened.

"I know maybe you have to hold him longer!" Penny sighed.

"Okay, fine after my shower I'll carry him around until I get to school but then I have to put him down deal?" Sideswipe nodded though obviously still upset about the first result. Penney grabbed her clothes and entered the bathroom-leaving Sideswipe to go bug Blaster.

Penny was happily in the shower when she was interrupted by a loud crash. She quickly finished her shower and got dressed almost leaving the room but then remembering her promise and grabbing Sunstreaker. She dashed down the stairs to find all her kitchenware covering the floor and two very suspicious looking mechs in the middle. She let out a long sigh and then started picking up the plates closest to her.

"What were you two doing?" She asked lifting them out of the mess and onto the counter.

"Blaster wanted to make you breakfast." Sideswipe said pointing at the stove, which clearly had freshly made pancakes on it. Blaster hit him

"It was supposed to be a surprise!"

Penny smiled at the little robots sitting on her counter then bent down and finished cleaning the floor.

"Thank-you Blaster" Penny said taking the pancakes to the table then giving him a hug.

"Why are ya carrying a glow-in-the-dark toy around?" Blaster said glancing at the still present Sunstreaker in her hand. Before she could respond Sideswipe butted in.

"That's no toy it's my bro!" Blaster just looked confused glancing at Penny for an explanation.

"Sideswipe thinks somehow I can make this toy come to life" Blaster nodded with understanding.

"You probably could," He said with a smile on his face

"You did it for me and Sides" Penny just stared at them she didn't do anything for them but, if they insisted on believing that she wouldn't say anything. She ate the pancakes that surprisingly well made and grabbed her school bag.

"Come on you two, I can't leave you here" She said opening her bag.

"We have to climb in there!" Sideswipe said looking at the small bag with disgust.

"No" Blaster said with a smirk "You do you're the one who turns into a small car" Penny just sighed would these two ever get along? Then she realized she had left Sunny on the table.

"Wait here." She told them "And Sides please just get in the bag"

Penny grabbed Sunny and ran up to her room she was about to place him on the shelf when the light that had been originally emanating from him grew brighter so bright Penny couldn't see. When she opened her eyes there clinging onto her arm was Sunstreaker.

Penny walked down the stairs with the small yellow robot at her heels. When Sideswipe saw him he ran and pounced on his brother knocking them both down the stairs. Penny walked over to the closet and got a bigger backpack transferring her stuff into it. Then shoving the two metal monsters in

"You guys have to stay quiet" She said in a stern voice having both of the pranksters were going to be a real problem. She then picked up Blaster who turned into a tape deck in her arms and headed out the door to school.

Finally, Penny thought exiting her last class and heading to her locker she had to leave her new house mates in there. But, when she rounded the corner a huge crowd was gathered around it.

"What going on?" She asked the nearest person in the crowd.

"There is some people stuck in a locker they're going to cut it open and get them out!" The blond girl responded.

Penny's eyes grew wide and she began pushing through the crowd. As she expected when she got to the front the janitor was in front of her locker and arguing could be heard coming from within it.

"Um, sir that's my locker" She said talking to the janitor "Those are my friends walkie-talkies no one is in there" When she got her hands on those three they were going to wish they were still stuck in her locker. The janitor looked up at her.

"Are you sure about that miss?" He asked her with an unhappy look on his face.

"Yes" She said moving in front of him and inputting the combination. She heard small transforming sounds coming from within and when she opened her locker the only things that could be seen were two small Lamborghini's and a tape player. She let out a long sigh of relief and stepped back to let everyone see. The janitor nodded and went on his way then the crowd slowly cleared.

"You guys are so dead" she said stuffing the cars in her bag.

"Hey, it wasn't my fault" Sunstreaker said annoyed about being crammed into another small space.

"I don't care whose fault it was I just want to know why you guys were arguing!" She responded hoisting the bag up onto her back grabbing Blaster and leaving.

When she got far enough and the complaining coming from her back got too much to bare. She unzipped her backpack and allowed the two to drive around her. If anyone saw she would just say they were remote control.

"I bet I can beat you back!" Sideswipe yelled to his brother.

"Doubt it!" Sunstreaker yelled back

Penny shook her head they were acting like kids.

"Blaster can you make sure that the twins get home I want to stop by the toy store and see if there are any Ironhide's left" Blaster transformed and Penny gave him the spare set of keys he then ran of after the two speedsters.

Penny turned to the store and entered it she was a bit nervous because of the last incident that had happened with Blaster. She looked over at the cash to see that Paul was no longer there. In his place stood a woman with long curly blond hair.

"Excuse me, but do you know what happened to the guy who used to work here, Paul?" The women looked up at her surprised that a girl of her age would come in a toy store.

"He quit, apparently went crazy or something the last thing he said to his boss was about tiny ro bots coming to life" Penny felt a bit guilty about this if she hadn't gone to get Blaster fixed Paul probably would still be here. She walked to the back where the transformers are usually kept and searched the shelves.

"Nope, gone" she said to herself glumly she walked to the front of the store again and was about to leave when the lady spoke to her.

"You were looking for that new transformer thing right?" Penny turned and nodded.

"I have one over here that we forgot to put on the shelf if you want it" The women bent down and pulled one out Penny reached forward and took it looking at it something made her shake her head and refuse it something just wasn't right unlike the others this one just didn't sit right.

"Sorry, I don't want him anymore but thank-you anyway" She said giving the women an awkward smile. The women just nodded and put the toy where she has found it.

Penny walked out of the store and started her walk home. That was stupid she thought the next shipment that comes in would probably be sold out the minute it hit the shelves. As she walked she saw something shine on the side of the road and if by miracle there sat an Ironhide he looked to be in perfect condition his gun was even tied around his hand using elastic. She picked him up and looked him over the same feeling she had when she picked up the others ran though her. This was the one she thought but then placed him back down she wasn't going to take it she was not a thief. She placed him back down and walked away. As she walked the urge to go back and pick him back up grew stronger but she refused to turn and take him eventually she reached her street. She walked down it and began to have a weird feeling that she was being watched. She looked around was she just being paranoid or was someone there.

Suddenly a small red robot jumped out in front of her and pointed his gun at her! She looked at him gun pointed but, he didn't fire instead he started shaking his hand up and down.

"How do you get this darn thing off!" he said as the gun snapped back up and into his hand.

Penny laughed at this tiny version of Ironhide. She walked over and broke the elastic and untangled it out of his finger joints. She thought about the whole situation and it reminded her of the toy that was sitting on the side of the road. She shook her head at the thought he couldn't be the same toy could he?

"Thanks miss, I appreciate it but now I got ta go" He went to go leave but she grabbed his arm.

"What you don't want to see your comrades" She asked him with a mischievous smile on her face. He just looked up at her surprised at the statement she had just made.

Penny walked up to the house and inserted her keys onto the lock and opened the door. She sighed when she was greeted by Blaster yelling at the twin's for hanging on the chandelier. She ran in and yanked the two off of their perch and placed them on the floor.

"Hey, Ironhide!" Blaster said letting Penny pick him up and place him on the floor.

"Your all actin like sparklins!" He responded his mouth gapping open. He almost turned around and left but Penny picked him up.

"Put me down!" He said kicking at her. She had to struggle to keep a strong hold on him.

"What's wrong!" She said placing him on the counter. She looked him over worried that she had hurt him in some way. He just looked down at his leg it seemed to have some type of imprint in it but, when she went to look at it he covered it with his hand glaring at her.

"I'm going to have to leave soon" She told them looking at her watch it was getting close to the time she would have to leave to go to work. Sunstreaker pushed Sideswipe forward as if encouraging him to say something.

"Penny don't you have a day off at some point?" He asked after several prods in his back.

"Yes, my day off is tomorrow no school no work" Penny answered smiling at the two small mechs.

"Blaster can you explain everything to the others?" They probably didn't know they were going to get put in a small bag and then forced to wait under the chief's island. Blaster gave a nod and started talking about what they were going to have to do.

Penny walked up the stairs and got her stuff. She found the biggest bag she could now that a three robot's were going to have to fit in there she was going to need a lot of room.

* * *

So, did you like it? XD

I wonder who I'm going to do next hmmmm...

Ok, I had a complaint come in a complaint! And it was about release dates please people the reason they are messed up is because of the story if I released them in the right order it wouldn't flow right .

Thanks for all the great reviews! :D

I'll get the next chapter up soon :)

**EDITED AS OF NOV17TH/11**  
Once again I fixed the font so it wasnt painful to read


	5. Don't take him!

Ok next Chapter is up :D

I have a beta reader now :)

And she is helping me out on spelling and what not (I won't post her username unless she tells me I can)

And here's a description of Penny (because I don't have a clear description of her):

She has long brown hair (sits around her elbows)  
Bright green eyes and is about 16 yrs old. She wears a blue watch on her right hand and a teardrop shaped necklace around her neck.

Enjoy

* * *

_**The Children:**_

_**Chapter 5: Don't take him!**_

Penny rushed around the restaurant placing plates on tables and grabbing dishes from people who were done. They were really busy today they had three birthday parties going and an anniversary plus all the other customers. Finally, she was able to get a breather. She ran into the kitchen and looked under the island.

Sunstreaker, Ironhide, Blaster she thought scanning through them she knew how easily they got lost.

Wait, where was Sideswipe?!

"Ironhide! Where's Sideswipe?" she asked him, looking around. Ironhide didn't respond. He looked terrified as he watched the odd sets of legs that he could see from underneath the curtain on the chief's island.

"He said he was going to help you…" Sunstreaker said, responding for his red friend.

Penny's eyes grew wide. A little red troublemaker was now running around the restaurant. She quickly got up and began looking around but she couldn't see him anywhere and there were new orders she had to deliver. She grabbed the orders and began handing them out despite her current situation. As she went she kept on looking down trying to find her little friend. She handed an old couple their meal and went over to three young girls who had called her over.

"Can I take…." She trailed off. There sitting in-between them was Sideswipe. He seemed to be struggling to get away but the girls kept on picking him up like a baby and hugging him. Penny was tempted to leave him there for a while but, then the girls would probably take him home and losing one of her new friends that was not a risk she was willing to take. Sideswipe saw her and relief washed over his face.

" Penny!" He said outstretching his hands like a child would to his mother. She tried to pluck him from between the girls but they stopped her.

"Hey. He's ours leave him alone!" The girl said squishing Sideswipe close to her. He struggled in her grasp and looked at Penny pleadingly.

"No he's not," She said glaring at them she was about to yell at them one the other girl let out a happy squeal.

"Look there's more of them!" She pointed over at the kitchen and like she said three little mechs had wandered out. Penny ran over and scooped Blaster and Sunstreaker up but she couldn't find Ironhide. She shoved the two under the island.

"What were you thinking!?" She asked giving them an alarmed look.

"We wanted to help you" Sunstreaker said. Penny just sighed and ran back out into the restaurant. She scanned the place wildly. Where was he? Her thoughts seemed to scream.

She already knew where Sides was. He could survive. She was more worried about Ironhide!

"Found him!" One of the girls's yelled holding a very reluctant Ironhide up in the air. He looked terrified though he was trying to hide it.

" Put me down you slagger!" He complained attempting to get the girl to let go. Penny ran over and tried to take Ironhide away from her but she refused to let her. One of Penny's fellow workers came over and pulled her away trying to calm her down.

" Penny! It isn't worth it," he tried consoling her. She glared up at him. He may have been taller than her and a few years older but that didn't change much in her eyes.

"What do you mean not worth it!" She yelled trying to pull away. By now the entire restaurant was staring at them. He pulled Penny out and into the kitchen.

" Penny they're only toys it isn't worth loosing our job over!" he told her, making her turn and face him. His brown hair was now falling over his eyes as he glared at her. His eyes were blue and they pierced right through Penny but she did not give up. She fought back.

"Just toys! They're not toy's they're alive! Did you not see Ironhide yell when he was lifted off the ground!" She continued to struggle and eventually was able to wriggle free. The second she felt his grip loosen she ran back into the restaurant just in time to see the girls leaving the two reluctant bots in their arms. She ran out after them down the street she could hear her co-worker behind her.

"Mike leave me alone! I need to save them!" She yelled back at him. The girls heard this and turned when they saw her they booked it down the nearest ally.

She continued to chase them as they swerved down allies and across streets. It was easy for her to stay on their tail because of the fact that they were carrying small robots that were trying desperately to get away. They finally turned into an ally that she knew had a chain link fence at the end of it. As they turned the corner she heard a loud clang. She winced at the sound. When she saw them they had started climbing over the fence.

"How could you drop him?" One if the girls said to the other.

Penny looked through the fence and saw Ironhide lying there lifelessly she stared horror-stricken. When the girls looked up and saw Penny they scooped up Ironhide and started running away. Penny scrambled up the fence and just jumped off the other side. The girls had gotten a head start and Penny was now having trouble catching up with them. Finally after what had seemed like forever the girls slowed down. She ran up to them and glared and was about to yell but then saw that they were either crying or looking extremely upset.

"He's not moving" The girl who was carrying Ironhide said looking up at Penny.

"You know a lot about them please you can have them back if you fix him," she said holding up Ironhide. Penny took him into her arms she had no idea how to fix him the last thing she had repaired was the engine of her dad's car and that was with an instruction booklet and after five different tries. She looked down at him sadly tears building up behind her own eyes Sideswipe was being squished against the girl who was holding him.

"We only wanted to have some fun," she mumbled and the other girls agreed. The three of them were all sorry for what they had done.

"We didn't want to hurt them…" the last girl added.

Penny was near tears when she heard someone panting behind her. She turned to face Mike who was exhausted from chasing after her.

"I'm never doing that again," he said gasping for air. Penny and the others were also breathing hard but none of them said anything.

"What's wrong?" He said looking around. Penny gave the girls a cold icy stare. She had dealt with death before but she just couldn't hold in her sadness any longer.

"They killed him!" she yelled pointing at the girl's tears pouring from her eyes. Sideswipe by now had managed to get free and was hugging Penny's leg. He was obviously crying but was trying to hide it. Mike looked at the form in her hands.

"Can I see him?" he said lifting Ironhide out of Penny's arms. She just nodded sadly and lifted Sideswipe up. She hugged him and started mumbling something about never caring about anyone again. Mike opened Ironhide up and started fiddling with his insides pulling various tools out of his apron. Penny and the girls looked at him strangely.

"What are you doing?" one of them asked, staring at the almost endless supply of tools coming from his pockets.

"I trained to be an engineer," he said smiling up at Penny. "He'll be as good as new in no time."

Penny's grim mood disappeared and she hugged Mike.

"Thank you" she whispered, letting go and smiling. Sideswipe, who had been forced into the hug, quickly got down. They watched Mike work and finally smiling he closed Ironhide up.

"His systems should reboot on their own now." Mike handed Ironhide back to Penny and she cradled him. She could hear his systems working and all her sadness melted away. She nestled him in one arm and picked Sides up with the other.

"We should be getting back," she said glaring at the girls. Mike nodded and stood up.

" Penny, you might loose your job. You do know that right?" he asked, looking at her with a worried expression. Mike had been working there for several years so the manager knew that if he left it was for a good reason but Penny had only just started and any excuse to fire her and hire the next person in line would be used. She just nodded. At the moment she didn't care. A job could be replaced. A friend couldn't.

Penny re-entered the restaurant getting strange looks from the customers as she passed. She was still carefully cradling Ironhide in one arm and was holding Sideswipe in the other. She ran into the kitchen and shoved Sideswipe under the island. She was going to have to talk to him later. She then carefully placed Ironhide near Blaster.

"Watch him," she ordered Blaster. He seemed concerned about his comrade and did what she said placing Ironhide's head on his lap.

" Penny I'm sorry," Sideswipe whispered. He hadn't meant to hurt anyone; he was only trying to help. Penny looked at him. She wasn't impressed but she saw he was sorry she quickly pulled her head out from underneath the island and got back to work. She could feel her manager's eyes on her the minute she left the kitchen. She went about doing her shift without being bothered but when her shift ended her manager asked her to step aside for a moment. Penny did so.

" Penny I saw the incident earlier," she started, glaring at Penny. Penny flinched. She was in for it now and was already preparing her mind to start job searching.

"I am giving you a warning. Do something like that again and…" The manager let the threat hang. When she was gone, Penny let out a huge sigh. That meant no job-hunting for her. She ran back into the kitchen and peeked under the island pulling her bag close to it.

"Everyone in," she said rather cheerfully. Sideswipe stared at her strangely she just smiled and lifted Ironhide up into her arms. As soon as everyone had climbed into her bag and she had slung it over her shoulder. She thanked Mike on the way out and headed home. After she was out of sight she let the twins out of her bag so they could drive ahead of her though this time she made sure they didn't get too far away. She didn't need another incident like before.

She unlocked the door and stepped inside. She continued to cradle Ironhide as she walked up to the kitchen. She did have a dinner planned but she decided to make it tomorrow because she was exhausted from today's events. She threw in a Pizza Pocket and sat down in front of the TV.

Why hasn't he woken up yet? She wondered, looking at Ironhide. Blaster had pulled himself up beside her and turned the TV on flipping through the many different channels. The twins had gone off somewhere. Probably to booby-trap her room again.

The microwave beeped and she placed Ironhide beside Blaster. The minute she put him down he began to move around uncomfortably so she picked him back up and took him with her. After a brief moment she plopped back down beside Blaster with her dinner in one hand and Ironhide in the other. Blaster had finally found a channel he liked and was staring at it. He seemed somehow intrigued by this odd newscast.

"We don't know exactly what happened but a very similar event from a few days ago has occurred once again. This toy store seemed to have been torn apart over night, walls seemed to have been blasted right through and the what is left of an assortment of toys lies on the floor." The newscaster on the TV reported.

Penny zoned out. The Pizza Pocket had long been devoured and she was bored. Penny glanced at Blaster, wondering why was he so interested in the story. Blaster got up from his seat and jumped onto the floor.

"I'm going upstairs," he said leaving the room. She nodded and watched him leave. Something moved in the crook of her arm. Ironhide was waking up.

"What the frag happened?" He asked sitting up and rubbing his head. He looked up and the minute he saw Penny he jumped from her lap.

"Ironhide…. What's wrong?" She asked him. He seemed to have been pushing her away since she found him. Ironhide sighed.

"Ya wouldn't understand it even if I told ya…" Penny smiled at this remark.

"Try me."

Ironhide looked up and finally began to tell her what was wrong.

"This," he said moving his hand off his leg to reveal a burn-like mark in his upper thigh, which looked like a moon. Penny looked at the mark. So that was what he was keeping hidden she thought.

"The person who had me before you called himself a "hard core" collector. He burned this fragging mark into every single slagging toy he ever owned. Unfortunately he believed me to be one of them."

Penny put her hand on his shoulder she didn't need to hear the rest. She stood up and went to go get some red paint that could at least cover the mark up.

" Penny wait," he said calling after her "There is one more thing," he whispered

"That slagger also placed a tracker in me somewhere," he said looking down at his hands. Penny's eyes widened. What would happen if he found her? This collector guy would know they were coming to life!

Penny tried to hid her fear but Ironhide could see it.

"I'm gunna leave, I'm putting ya in way to much danger." He rose but Penny swept him up in her arms.

" No way," she said with another smile plastered on her face. It didn't matter how much danger she was supposedly in. There was no way she was going to give up her new friend. She walked up the stairs carrying a struggling Ironhide all the way.

" PENNY!" Ironhide yelled at her but there wasn't anything he could say or do to make her put him down. If she had to she would lock him away somewhere until he agreed to stay.

She entered her room and was surprised she didn't end up with a bucket of cold water on her head. She placed Ironhide up on the bed if he jumped she would defiantly hear him hit the floor.

Penny glanced at the shelf. It would really help if she could have Prowl or Optimus awake so they could take care of the others while she was at school or work. But then again, they would probably make everyone leave. By now, Ironhide had crossed his arm and was sitting in the corner of her bed glaring at her. She looked at him then at her hands. Was it physically possible she thought she looked at the shelf and located Jazz.

He's harmless enough, she thought to herself. She walked towards the shelf but before she could reach it Blaster yelled from the hallway and ran inside of her room.

" Penny!" he yelled. She groaned. That was probably the fifth time someone had called to her today! She ignored him and continued to walk over to the shelves while looking at Blaster.

"Stay away from the shelv..." It was too late. The twins, who had been hiding on the bottom shelf, popped out and grabbed her legs. She tipped over and crashed into the shelves, knocking the entire thing on top of her.

Despite the fact she was falling into thousands of small plastic figures and solid metal shelves her first instinct was to cover the two troublemakers from the weight.

" PENNY!" Blaster and Ironhide yelled in unison as they saw their friend crushed by the shelf. To make matters worse, one of the figures that had made contact with her skin began to glow. He came to life, marching out of the wreckage.

"Me Grimlock no like being squished!" he roared.

* * *

Don't worry Jazz will be here soon

And Penny will be fine... I think... giggles'

If anyone is confused on the height of the transformers they're about the size of this Blaster: members./jeffb/transformers/Blaster.jpg

I'll get up the next chapter ASAP


	6. Help Is on the Way

Hey everyone ^_^

Sorry it took me so long to get this up ^^; My homework the last few weeks has been crazy _

Well I hope you enjoy it :D

* * *

_**The Children**_

_**Chapter 6: Help Is On the Way**_

Penny groaned as the weight of the metal shelf pressed on top of her. Pain was running up and down her spine as she tried to move into a more comfortable position. She had covered the twins from being crushed and now they were lying under her, their worried optics staring.

There was an opening between the metal shelves and the floor where they could probably just fit. "I'm okay, you two get out," she tried to reassure the two worried mechs. "Go," she croaked, taking a gasp of air. Sunstreaker obeyed, diving for the opening and squeezing through but Sideswipe stayed where he was, ignoring his brother beckoning to him.

" Penny, I don't want to leave you under here," he said, frowning when he saw her wince in pain.

She gave him a weak smile.

"You can't help me from in here now can you?" she asked, trying to hold in the pain that was threatening to show.

Sideswipe looked around at the massive amount of toys which now surrounded them. She had a point. He was useless from in there. He sadly crawled over to his brother who reached in and helped him out. Penny let out a sigh of relief as she watched him get through the opening. At least they were safe.

She attempted to move underneath the rubble but the weight was too much and just succeeded in shifting more weight on top of her.

" Penny!" Blaster called out to her.

"Blaster help me try ta get this all off!" Ironhide's voice was muffled. She could barley hear them.

Suddenly, as if an angel had heard her call, the doorbell rang.

"Ironhide!" she yelled for the little red bot. If someone was big enough to ring the doorbell they were big enough to help her out.

" Penny? Are you okay?" Blaster called out, "The twins are handling Grimlock but we need you to get out," he said. She could feel the panic in his voice and had he said Grimlock? Oh god she thought this was one of the bots she didn't want to come to life.

"Blaster answer the door!" she yelled, falling into a coughing fit.

"Ironhide is going," he answered.

" Please be okay Penny…" Blaster mumbled, holding his hands together. He could see his friend's body poking out from under the shelves but not by much.

--

Ironhide raced down the stairs and over to the door. It took him a few tries to get up to the level of the door handle but eventually he was able to grab hold of it and get it opened.

He looked up at the girl who was on the other side. She had sandy brown hair and blue eyes. When she saw him, she stared for a moment then mumbled under her breath.

"Cool toy…"

She stepped over Ironhide and into the house. Ironhide tried to stop her but it was no use. He was too tiny.

" Penny? Penny!" the girl called out into the house.

Ironhide had enough of being ignored. When she got close to the table, he climbed up it and stood, looking her directly in the eyes.

"Now you look here young lady! Penny is stuck in her room under some metal stairs and if you don't help her she ain't gonna last much longer."

The girls eyes grew wide and she dashed up the stairs.

" Penny what the hell were you doing? And what's with the toys...kinda weird if you ask me," she muttered the last part. When she entered the room, she looked around at all the tiny robots attempting to help their oversized friend out from underneath the rubble.

"Mika?" Penny yelled out. "Is that you?"

"Well of course it's me," Mika said as Grimlock ran past, almost tripping her.

"Don't just stand their help me out of here!"

"Well jeez captain pissy pants, gimmie a minute. And calm down," Mika responded way too casually. Penny had been friends with Mika since they were little and no matter what she had tried to do nothing would ever spook her. Mika walked over and lifted the shelf off of her friend.

As Penny felt the weight leave her back, pain from the shelves impact began to set in. She let out a painful moan.

"You're okay right? Because I so don't want to take you to the hospital," Mika said in a joking manner. Penny looked up at her pain written across her face.

"Mika, my chest it hurts..." she groaned, keeling over a bit.

By now, Blaster had run to her side, worriedly looking at her. Ironhide burst into the room, breathing heavily.

"The…least you could've....done is brought me with ya," he panted but when he saw Penny he ran over to her. Mika pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and dialed in a number.

"Hey mom," she said into the phone when someone on the other end picked up, "I'm going to take Penny to the hospital. She's fine. A shelf just fell on her so there's nothing to worry about. Bye." She hung up the phone before her mom could respond.

"Okay, Penny time to go." Mika bent down to help her friend to her feet. Penny moaned as she was lifted. Clutching her side, she walked down the stairs, using her friend as a crutch. A parade of toys followed them.

"Ya do realize your little toys aren't coming right?" Mika asked, seeing them following.

Penny glanced back at them.

"Why not?" she asked, taking a few gasps of air.

"Because I'm not going to be seen walking around with a whole bunch of toys. I'm not four years old!" Mika argued as they neared the front door.

Blaster butted in before Penny could respond.

"Hey! We're just as much Penny's friend as you are! We deserve the right to know if she's okay!" Blaster exclaimed, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring up at Mika.

"First of all, you're a toy so shut it. Second, you're not coming! You're just gonna cause problems so suck it up princess!" Mika said, glaring back down.

Penny looked between human and toy. She felt as though the fight no longer included her and frankly, she was in too much pain to care.

"Mika just let them come...." she moaned, wincing in pain. "They can stay in the car or something." By now, Penny really didn't care where they were going just as long as the pain went away as soon as humanly possible. Mika slouched a bit, realizing that she had lost the battle.

"Okay. Fine. But if they touch anything, I'm going to rip them apart piece by piece!" she threatened, once again glaring at the little tape deck that was now looking up at her rather smugly.

They left the house and hobbled to Mika's car with most of Penny's weight on her friend. The minute Mika opened the back door of the car, the tiny robots hopped in and sat down on the floor, letting Penny have the seat. As soon as Grimlock got in he started to complain.

"Me Grimlock king! Me no sit on floor!" He said, scrambling up on top of Penny's lap. She groaned as the small dino's foot hit her in the ribs.

"You'll sit where I tell you to!" Mika ordered, picking him up and plopping him back on the floor. Grimlock wasn't happy about it and climbed right back up onto the chair. This time, he snuggled under Penny's arm instead of sitting on top of her.

Mika glared at the miniature dinosaur and yanked him away, throwing him back on the floor. Grimlock growled and snapped at Mika's hand, missing it by only a few inches.

Mika slammed the car door shut right in Grimlocks face. He growled again when he saw her enter the driver's side of the car and, as stubborn as he was, got back up and once again snuggled under Penny's arm. Penny didn't seem to mind that she had company. All she wanted was for the pain to go away.

Mika slid into the driver's seat and something yellow out of the corner of her eye. She growled. It was one of those flipping toys! She glared at him.

"You are defiantly not sitting there," she said reaching forward to grab the small yellow bot and chuck him into the back. Sunstreaker gave her a sideways glance and easily slipped away.

"Don't you dare throw me back there with those maniacs," he growled when he saw the girls wanting to get ride of him. Mika nodded and opened the glove compartment and swiftly shoved him in.

"Hey watch it!" he yelled as the area he was in suddenly went dark. Just wait, he thought angrily. He was so going to get her back for this.

Mika heard Penny making some painful noises in the back so she quickly started the car and drove off.

--

Mika drove into the emergency part of the hospital and quickly parked in the closest spot.

"Penny, I'm going to get you a wheelchair. Hold on just a sec." She got out of the car and ran over to the emergency area. The guard was a bit alarmed by the girl's promptness but allowed her to grab a wheelchair and go back to the car. Mika helped Penny out and into the chair, leaving a very upset Grimlock on the seat.

Before Mika could leave, Ironhide got up on the seat and glared at her.

"Ya better take care of her or you'll be in a lot of trouble missy," he said, staring her straight in the face, his arms crossed over his chest. Mika closed the door, locked her car then wheeled Penny away.

"You sure she'll be okay?" Blaster asked, watching them out the window. Penny seemed to be in a lot of pain and he didn't like it.

"She's a big girl. She'll be fine," Ironhide responded, putting his hand on the other mechs shoulder. Blaster nodded and slumped in the chair, waiting for Penny to return. There was an awkward silence then banging could be heard from the glove compartment.

"Let me the frag out of here!" Sunstreaker yelled from within. Everyone broke out into laughter and Sideswipe ran over and opened it allowing his brother freedom.

--

Penny yawned as she was allowed to be free of the hospital. She was really tired and could tell Mika was as well. It turned out she had broken one of her ribs so she now had this cast thing around her. It was hard to move in but she could live with it until the rib healed.

Mika had offered to wheel her around in the wheelchair again but Penny wanted to walk. She had broken her rib, not her leg.

When they got close enough to the car, Mika ran over and unlocked it. Penny was going to sit in the back again but when she looked in the back, she saw that the miniature robots were sleeping so she slipped into the passenger seat instead.

"Thanks Mika," Penny mumbled. Her friend had done a lot for her and she had no idea how to thank her.

"Don't worry about it," Mika said, starting the car and pulling out of the parking lot.

Penny heard Blaster mumble something about him being too worried to recharge. She turned back, cringing at the pain that that movement caused, and lifted Blaster onto her lap, cradling him in her arms. In her embrace, Blaster's systems comfortably slipped into recharge.

Penny glanced at the time as they pulled into Tim Horton's drive thru it was 1am. Mika had insisted on stopping for coffee before the drive back to their houses.

"Mika are you sure they're open?" Penny asked, looking around. The parking lot was nearly empty as was the drive thru.

"I know someone who works here. Its open twenty-four hours," Mika answered as she casually rolled down the window and ordered a medium coffee, double double.

"You going to order anything?" Mika asked, turning to her friend.

"No, I'm good. I don't usually drink coffee," Penny said, continuing to cradle the small red tape deck in her arms. Mika nodded and drove up to the next window. She paid and pulled back onto the road for the drive home.

--

Penny climbed out of the car and collected her robots from the back seat. She could barely carry them all but she was able to manage.

"Thanks for everything Mika!" she called out, waving to her friend from her front porch. She watched Mika drive away then turned and tried to unlock the door. After failing a few times, she put the robots down and finally got it open. She picked them back up and dragged herself up the stairs, plopping everyone but Grimlock on her bed.

Out of the corner of her eye Penny spotted something glowing on the ground where the shelf had crashed on top of her.

She was going to have to clean that up tomorrow…

She sighed and bent down to pick up the glowing figure. It was Ratchet. 'Go figure,' she thought as the figure glowed brighter and brighter in her grasp. Finally, the blinding flash of light came and the robot grew to the same size as the others. She almost dropped him from surprise.

"Hey Ratch," she said cheerfully.

* * *

^_^ Just to tell you all Mika exists she my friend at school XD

Oh and THANK YOU SO MUCH TIGERCHICKTIGRESS!! She my awesome beta reader thank you *hugs*


	7. Breaking Point

Hey everyone!

Yes I know its been a while since I last updated SORRY ^^;

Anyway I think some of you will like this chapter ^-^

It will answer some questions I've been asked ;)

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The Children Chapter 7  
Breaking Point

"Put me down!" Ratchet yelled, realizing how far off the ground he was. He kicked his legs wildly, accidentally making one ram into Penny's newly broken ribs. She groaned and dropped the white and red medic on the ground. She lowered herself onto the bed taking care not to land on any of her small friends. Ratchet landed on his aft and looked up at her.

"Are you injured?" He asked, looking at the section of her body his foot had touched.

"Hey Ratch!" Blaster greeted from on top of the bed. Penny's sitting on the bed had woken him and he was now wide-awake. "Penny was hurt but we took her ta the hospital and she should be fine now," Blaster informed the medic, answering the question for her.

Ratchet's brow furrowed and he started to climb up the bed but a loud growl startled him, making him fall back down.

"Why me Grimlock on ground? Me Grimlock not like ground!" The Dinobot yelled, stomping his feet angrily.

"You Grimlock on the ground so you don't break my ribs again," Penny mumbled from the bed.

Ironhide had taken a spot next to her head. He was eyeing the twins dangerously, almost daring them to come near the injured human. To his great surprise the two troublemakers moved to the beds' edge and reached out for Ratchet's hand.

Ratchet looked at the mechs' that were offering a hand up with a suspicious stare and then grabbed on. The twins obviously weren't in a pranking mood because they pulled Ratchet up and onto the bed without dropping him as a joke. Once he was up, the medic started to examine Penny. He poked her, causing a gasp to escape her mouth and for the small medic to be swatted at. He tried to move out of the way but that only resulted him falling once again onto his aft.

Ratchet frowned then hollered, "Everyone out!" Everyone looked at him, confusion and slight shock showing in their expressions.

"Why do we hafta leave?" Blaster said looking at the medic strangely. The others looked at the red and white bot, waiting for his reason. Even Ironhide didn't understand why the medic wanted them out.

"She's injured and needs her rest and she can't do that with you climbing all over her! NOW OUT ALL OF YOU!!"

Penny frowned as all the little bots scrambled off of her bed and out of her room. Blaster paused at the door and looked back at her. She gave him a weak smile and he nodded leaving.

"Why did you make them leave?" Penny asked, half asleep. "I like them being in here with me..." Her eyes closed before she could hear Ratchet's response, if he even gave one.

--

Penny's eyes opened and she looked over at her clock. The red numbers blinked four pm.

how did it get so late?

She quickly sat up and almost instantly regretted it. Her ribs were still extremely sore.

"You should probably lie back down," Ratchet said touching her arm gently. "I reinforced your cast which should result in less pain...but it will still be sore."

Penny smiled and lifted the medic into her arms and hugged him. He squirmed a bit but he didn't seem to dislike it.

"I'm going to take a shower. The doctors told me the cast was waterproof so no need to worry." She slowly got up and placed the white and red mech on the floor.

"Where are the others?" She asked curiously, looking around for the other little 'bots.

"I've banned them from this floor," Ratchet said casually.

Penny stopped in her tracks and glared at him. He just looked back up at her a confused look plastered on his face. Penny grumbled and walked to the bathroom. She would see her boys as soon as she was out.

--

"PENNY!" Blaster yelled happily when he saw her come down the stairs. The little mech got up from his spot in front of the TV and ran over to her. He clasped onto her legs, hugging them tightly.

"Hello," she said, lifting him up and putting him on her hip. She couldn't help but feel overjoyed that he was worried about her.

The doorbell rang.

She opened the door and was surprised to see Mika.

"You have great timing. I just got up," Penny said smiling.

"Oh, that's cool. How are you feeling?" Penny cocked her head sideways. Mika always had such a forward approach to things.

"I'm better. Ribs are still sore but I have a miniature medic looking after me!" Mika leaned against the doorframe but she was smiling slightly.

"That's good. I'm going to Japan for the rest of the week so I won't be able to check up on you."

Blaster spoke up from the spot on Penny's hip. "Why are you going there?" He asked curiously.

"To visit my dad and my old friends. Something YOU don't have." Mika replied rather smugly she obviously didn't like the little bots and would do anything to annoy them. Blaster couldn't stand her smug look and just had to say something in return. He glared up at her and made Penny let go of him.

"Well-" He got cut off by a car horn.

"That's my mom. I gotta go" Mika waved bye to Penny then ran down the steps. Penny waved back.

"That wasn't fair!" Blaster grumbled crossing his arms. Penny just started laughed and they both went back in the house.

"So where are the others?" Penny said looking around but the only other robot she could locate was Grimlock who was comfortably recharging on the couch.

"Err...they went out." Blaster answered uncomfortably. Penny glanced down at him, glaring slightly.

"Out where?" She asked, worry slipping into her voice.

"They, uh, told me ta tell you…" Blaster said nervously, inching away from her almost like she was going to hit him.

"If you no tell me Grimlock will," the miniature dinosaur chirped smugly from the couch, onlining his optics and sitting up.

"Okay fine…" Blaster grumbled. "They wanted ta get you a get well present. Sideswipe saw sumthin' on TV about humans liked that."

Penny's eyes widened in horror.

"You mean they're wandering the streets!" She asked, slightly alarmed.

"Me Grimlock know where they went. Me show you way." The Dinobot said. Blaster glared in his direction.

Penny put Blaster down and lifted Grimlock up placing him outside after she opened the front door. Blaster followed them out the door. Penny was about to close the when a certain medic walked down the steps. He glared at her coolly.

"And where do you think YOUR going?" He asked in a superior tone.

"The others ran off and I need to find them," Penny said as she proceeded to close the door.

"Not in your condition your not!" He yelled, dashing over and sticking his foot in the path of the door, stopping it from closing fully. Penny, not wanting to hurt the little bot, let go of the door handle.

"Ratchet," she said pleadingly, "I need to find them. Humans aren't friendly to things they don't understand and you never know if the wrong person might find them," she tried to explain, hoping her eyes conveyed her concern for her missing boys.

After a pause, Ratchet sighed.

"All right, fine. But I'm coming as well and if you feel any pain or are in any danger I'm bringing you right back!" The medic stated, allowing Penny to close the door behind them.

Penny gave Ratchet a small thankful smile then looked down at Grimlock. "Lead the way Grimmy" She said to the little T-Rex.

"Me name not Grimmy it Grimlock," he grumbled as he waddled down the front steps and into the street with the others following.

--

Penny didn't know what was happening until gunshots exploded right over her head. Blaster yelled for her to get down. She flung herself to the ground just as the miniature war went into full force around her.

Five miniature jets were flying overhead, shooting at her boys almost aimlessly. Suddenly Ironhide, who she thought was missing a few minutes ago, was pulling at her arm trying to get her to stand.

" Penny! Come on! Stand!" He yelled. Ratchet appeared next to the little weapons specialist, yelling his demands that she get out of there.

" Remember our deal? You're coming back right now!" He yelled insistently. Penny did as she was told and struggled to her feet. She grabbed Ratchet around the waist and lifted him into her arms. She began to run. To her horror, she realized that the jets were chasing HER!

"Hold on Ratchet!" She yelled to the little medic as she dived into a nearby garden, rolling behind a bush. She lay there helplessly, gasping for air. Ratchet pried himself from her grip and starting to look her over.

"You don't seem any more damaged then before," he muttered more to himself then her, "Penny, you have to get back up." He shook her slightly, but Penny continued to lay there.

She heard gunfire and the sound of a screaming jet engine crashing. Ratchet sounded as if he was far away. Everything had become too much for her. She was overwhelmed.

Suddenly a high-pitched voice she hadn't heard before ordered "Decepticons retreat!"

The jets left.

Her miniature friends walked through the bush and surrounded her. Penny managed to pull herself into a sitting position. She frowned, seeing some of them had laser burns.

"You okay Penny?" Sideswipe asked, looking up at her. She nodded, picking him up and hugging him.

"Let's go home…" Penny replied. Without putting Sideswipe down, she stood up and started walking towards her house.

"What wrong with Penny?" Grimlock asked Ratchet who just sighed in return.

"The battle was a bit much for her. She'll be fine after a rest… I hope."

Grimlock nodded though Ratchet didn't believe he understood.

When they all made it back in the house, Ratchet set up a temporary medical bay on Penny's kitchen counter, stealing her dad's tool's from the basement. Penny didn't want to put Sideswipe down but he was injured so he needed to be repaired. She reluctantly put him down on the counter, Blaster gave him a jealous look, and then Penny climbed the stairs up to her room. She closed the door behind her and locked it.

Leaning against her metal shelves that she had managed to straighten out earlier, she began to cry. It was just too much. She could handle having to protect small robots from themselves but now there were Decepticons. It was way to overwhelming for her.

Penny placed her head in her hands and cried even harder. Because her hands were covering her eyes, she didn't notice the bright light coming from her shelves. She didn't really care that she had brushed against some of her toys, which were sitting on the shelves.

Then someone tapped her on the back.

"Now what's a pretty girl like you doin' cryin'?" Jazz asked, flashing a cheerful smile. Penny looked up and it took her a few minutes to realize what had happened.

"Y-your awake" She stuttered. Jazz cocked his head sidways and nodded almost as if he was saying "yes, and….?" She stood there staring for a minute and then slid down to the ground tears were still rolling down her face.

"Now why don't ya tell me what's wrong?" The black and white mech asked jumping down to the ground.

"I-I don't think I can protect them anymore" She said facing away from him. She felt like a parent who couldn't protect her kids.

"Who can't you protect? The other bots?" He asked moving around her so that she was facing him again. Penny nodded at his question then leaned over and balanced her head on her knees.

"They're fine. They're soldiers. If anything they wanna protect you! Now can I see that smile of yours?" He said reaching his little hand up and putting it under her chin so that it made her look straight into his optic band. He smiled and Penny couldn't help it she smiled back.

"See, that's better!" Jazz stated standing up at his full height. "A pretty girl shouldn't be dirtin' her face with tears."

Penny wiped her eyes. She had to stay strong and with Jazz here hopefully things might be a little easier for her. HE could at least help keep some of the more troublesome bots in line.

"Thanks Jazz," she said standing up, unlocking her door and walking out. To her surprise she almost tripped over Blaster and Sideswipe.

"You two!" She bent down and hugged them both.

" Penny are ya ok now?" Blaster asked once she released him from her hug.

"Your eyes are all red," Sideswipe pointed out, earning him an elbow in the stomach from the cassette player beside him.

"I'm fine now," she replied, picking up Sideswipe before he could pounce on Blaster.

"By the way, Jazz is awake," she informed them just as said 'bot exited her room. Blaster stared rather blankly but then smiled.

"Nice to see ya movin' around." Blaster greeted Jazz with a smile though it looked rather forced. He probably wasn't too happy about Jazz being in there with Penny _alone._

"Come on! The others are downstairs and will want ta see ya!" Blaster pulled on Jazz's arm, dragging him down the stairs. Sideswipe squiggled from Penny's grip and followed.

Penny sighed smirking. Alone again. She slowly walked down the stairs and slipped out the front door. She knew it was probably dangerous but she needed to go for a walk and get her thoughts in order. Besides, being in her room didn't work out very well where little 'bots could bug her.

As she walked, she heard some footsteps in the bushes that she had been previously hidden in. She spun around, half expecting to see one of her bots that had followed her but instead there was a familiar blue jet. He stared up at her and reached his hand out toward her.

Penny was about to run when he fell to the ground coughing. She looked at him as he coughed, harder this time, energon leaking out of his gun wounds. He looked so helpless. She just couldn't leave him there. Not in that state, even if he had tried to kill her and her friends. She wouldn't leave any of her boys behind so she wouldn't leave him either.

"Stay still," She said walking over to him and bending down. His guns had been shot off so she was in no danger at the moment.

"You'll be okay. Just don't move," she warned lightly. She looked over his wounds. He was bleeding badly from places she was sure he shouldn't be. She slowly wiggled her hands under him and lifted him into her arms, not wanting to move him too fast.

"Why– why are you helping me?" he stuttered, looking up at her through a smashed optic. "We tried to kill you and you're helping me…." He trailed off with confused look on his face.

Penny smiled kindly. "I couldn't leave you there to die."

* * *

And thats all for now :D  
I've started the next chapter so hopefully it will be up a lot sooner then this one was _

Once again I want to thank my Beta-reader!

THANK YOU Tigerchicktigress!


	8. Mystery

Chapter 8

Mystery

Penny didn't exactly know what to do from that point. She now had a decepticon in her arms bleeding all over her clothing. It was dark out and the energon was making her light up like a Christmas tree. Penny's first thought was to bring him to Mike, she knew he could fix the small jet since he fixed Ironhide right? But Mike lived on the other side of town, by the time she reached him she would be carrying around a lifeless body. Her only other option was going back to her house, which was currently full of autobot soldiers. Ratchet would be able to fix him she knew he could, but would he be willing to. Sighing she headed in the direction of her house, it was better to try and convince the small medical bot then to stand there any longer.

"You should just leave me here..." He said after letting out a light moan. Penny just shook her head again; she couldn't leave him alone in the forest.

"Don't be stupid, if I left you there you would bleed to death and you know it" She stated, her house was coming into view. The two story red-bricked house was looking very welcoming right now; she could only see one light on. It was the one near the front of the house, most likely where all the other little robots were. She didn't expect to see any of them until she got in, unfortunately the unexpected just had to occur. Right in her path was a little red robot, his gun aimed at Penny.

"Ironhide..." She said looking down at him automatically holding the blue jet closer to her body.

"drop'em, Penny He tried ta kill ya, we might as well put em out of his misery" Ironhide said glaring at the seeker.

"I'm not going to let Thundercracker die; he came to life just as you guys did. If he can provide any answers as to why this is occurring in the first place we need him alive" She stated rather strongly, compared to how she really felt. Ironhide shook his head and didn't lower his gun.

"Fer all we know he's fakin his injuries. Just put em down, I'll kill em, it'll be over with" Ironhide answered, his face hardening into a glare.

"Ironhide, if you want to kill him, fine. But you're killing me first. You understand?" Penny was going to stand her ground on this one. She couldn't let them boss her around she knew what was right and she knew what Ironhide would or wouldn't do. At least she hoped she did. She took this stalemate as a moment to glance down at the seeker again. His optics had grown a tad wider as he was trying to understand his situation. Even though they were wide they were beginning to flicker and lose their brightness. She knew he was fading.

"I-I can't" Ironhide responded. He lowered his gun looking up at his friend.

"Come on, get'em in the house. We'll jus have'ta see what the others think of this" Ironhide said turning around and leading the way up the steps. She smiled lightly, glad to be able to at least try and save the small jet. She turned the handle and Ironhide pushed it open, on the other side stood Ratchet his arms were crossed and he was tapping his foot.

"Ratchet," Penny started, but as soon as Ratchet saw the energon his face dropped. He was instantly concerned instead of annoyed.

"W-who's..." He eyed Thundercracker and then it clicked in his head what had happened.

"You went back for him?" He asked slightly shocked.

"I know, I thought she was crazy but, she wouldn't let me put'em out of his misery" Ironhide grumbled standing at Penny's feet.

"Ratchet please help him, for me?" Penny responded. By this point the others had started to gather around. Ratchet looked back at the others then up at Penny's desperate face.

"Alright..." He said sighing

"Put him on the counter"

Penny had changed once again. Thundercracker's energon was starting to burn her skin not to mention it was causing the other autobots, who were already on edge, to feel uncomfortable. Now wearing a long sleeved red shirt and jean shorts she went back down the stairs.

"Penny," It was Blaster he was waiting at the bottom.

"Yes?" She asked sitting down a few steps from the bottom.

"You aren't thinking of letting Thundercracker stay here are ya?" Blaster responded. He never looked more worried than he did now. Penny cocked her head to the side in thought.

"It depends. I don't want to send him back right away because then he'll know how many of you guys there are not to mention, I want to ask him a few things. Like how he came to life. I only collect autobots so it doesn't have anything to do with me" She said leaned on the railing of the stairs slightly, her broken rib was starting to hurt again.

"But... Penny..." Blaster was cut off by Sideswipe running over.

"Penny, Ratchet said your new friend is all repaired. He's not going to turn him online though until you've had a good night's sleep" Sideswipe said glancing back at the Kitchen. Penny followed his gaze to see Ratchet standing on the counter with his arms crossed. Penny sighed and nodded at him.

"Tell him alright, but I don't want any of you touching Thundercracker tonight understand?" She said turning around to walk back up the stairs. Before she could take a step she felt someone tap her on the leg.

"Can I come with you or are you still in pain?" Blaster asked hopefully.

"Hey if you're going with her I am too!" Sideswipe stated. Penny smiled and picked up Blaster.

"Sideswipe, right now I think I can only handle one of you guys with me I'm sorry" Penny said turning around and walking up the stairs.

"Thanks fer keeping me with ya babe" He said smirking.

"No problem." Penny responded yawning. She should really grab something to eat before she went to bed but she was exhausted.

She was running, as fast as she could. She could see her parents they were getting on a plane.

"Bye honey, well be back in a week" they said in unison as the plane seemed to engulf them.

"Mom Dad no!" She yelled out. Her feet suddenly felt very heavy she looked down to see Blaster clinging on one of her legs Sideswipe on the other.

"Don't Penny it's too late" They said their optics turning red.

"You can't save them you can't ever save them. Don't even try" The little robots said to her smiling.

"No! You're wrong! I can still get there in time!" She yelled the plane lifted off the ground as if it were out of her reach.

"NO!" She yelled

"No! Don't go! Please!" She then heard her name being said over and over again, fog clouded her vision and she was pulled back to reality.

"Penny!" She saw Blaster standing above her. His optics were filled with worry. She sat up causing him to fall from where he was sitting on her chest onto her lap.

"Penny are you ok? You were yelling in your sleep" He said getting up and walking to her side putting his hand gently on her arm.

"It...It was just a bad dream" She said sighing and putting a hand on her face. She felt wetness and realized she was crying. Wiping her eyes she smiled down at the small red robot.

"Must've been. Who were you trying ta save?" He asked curiously.

"No one" Penny's voice dropped rather coldly as she looked up at her shelves. Most of them had been bought by her parents, though she usually brought them back and exchanged them if she didn't like the one her parents picked out. She sighed and got up, it was 8am later then when she usually slept in till, she was lucky her shift at the restaurant wasn't until later. Throwing on what she had on last night she took Blaster downstairs. Only to find all the other robots were asleep. She placed Blaster on the counter beside the still offline Thundercracker then popped to pieces of toast in her toaster.

"Penny, you alright?" Blaster asked looking at her oddly. She nodded inspecting the repairs Ratchet did on Thundercracker. She never figured out where he got the extra metal from.

"He's operational if you want me to turn him online" she looked up to try and find the owner of this voice. It was Ratchet; he had snuggled up on the sofa not too close to Grimlock.

"You sure you don't want to wait for the others to wake up? I mean I don't think he'll attack me but you guys seemed to be pretty worried about it" Penny said idly stroking the side of Thundercracker's face. She was starting to wish she had collected decepticons as well. At least then she would know where he came from.

"I think we should wait until Jazz gets up at least" Sideswipe had just come out of recharge and caught onto what they were talking about. Penny nodded; Jazz probably had the most level head out of all of them. Not to mention he was the highest ranking officer so, he'd be able to control the other autobots. She turned around and pulled her toast out of the toaster, she was getting really hungry and her toaster usually burnt it when it popped anyway. Not bothering to put butter on it she started nibbling on it. She didn't like waiting. Luckily though the others seemed to be waking up pretty quickly, Sunstreaker had woken up soon after his brother and then Ironhide. The small red bot had decided to take a post up on the counter next to the decepticon he didn't like the fact they were leaving him unguarded.

"I really don't think he should be'ere" Ironhide grumbled to himself holding his blaster rather tightly. He still had the moon shaped mark on his leg, but with all that had happened he seemed to have forgotten to hide it.

"Would you like to be left behind like he was?" Penny asked looking at him. Ironhide shrugged, she could tell he didn't want to be here. He still had the tracker in him. Then something clicked in her head, couldn't Ratchet remove it?

"Um,Ironhide I need to talk to you" Penny said lifting him off the counter not giving him a chance to respond. She moved upstairs and went into her bedroom closing the door behind her. She placed iron hide on the bed and she sat on the floor this gave him a bit more height so he didn't feel like a child.

"Penny, what'd ya want?" He asked looking a bit agitated. He wanted to be keeping an eye on the seeker they had left behind in the kitchen.

"I wanna talk to you about the tracker." She stated rather clearly.

"I want to get Ratchet to try and locate and remove it. But I didn't know whether you wanted any of the others knowing about it" She said glancing up at the shelves. She was wondering whether they knew what was going on while they were toys. If so she had just announced it to most of the autobot army. Ironhide shifted his sitting position uncomfortably at the question.

"Awh... I don't know. I should've left ya when ya found me, but with all these soldiers actin out of line. I jus couldn't" He said looking up at her

"If I had left maybe ya wouldn't of had that lil decepticreep in yur kitchen" He looked down at his hands, he felt guilty now. As if everything that had happened thus far had been his fault.

"None of this is your fault. If you're worried about it just get Ratchet to take a look at you" She said smiling slightly. Ironhide didn't respond, instead he just pointed one finger up at the shelves behind her. His optics were wide. Penny turned around to see that Sky Linx was shining slightly. She was lucky to have gotten that character, Mika had got it from china last time she went there.

"Penny, I dun think waking him up will be a good idea" Ironhide said continuing to stare. He had no idea what size Sky Linx would grow to when brought to life.

"Well I can't leave him there glowing like a nightlight now can I? Anyway who knows? I might not be able to wake him up" She said getting up and reaching for the toy. It was on the second shelf to the top, usually she placed the big ones on the smaller shelves but she had specifically put this one up high because of how valuable she considered it. That's when she felt something grab her ankle.

"Penny..." Ironhide said looking up at her. He was trying to stop her. She just smiled reassuringly then reached out and grabbed Sky Linx from the shelf... The stretching made her wince slightly in pain from her ribs but she managed to grab hold of the figure. Just as some of the others had he glowed brighter and brighter in her grasp and suddenly the light was blinding. She felt the figure grow in her hands she let go just to feel two legs on her shoulders. The weight of this new character pushed her to the ground causing her to yell out in pain. Sky Linx jumped off her and onto the bed.

"Sorry about that. Sometimes I don't realise my own weight." He said bending over, his dragon like head inspecting her. He had grown to the size of a full grown dog and not one of those little ones but a German Sheppard size

"I'm ok" She mumbled, trying to stay as still as possible where she was lying. Ironhide looked really worried.

"Sky help me get this door open. I'm gunna get Ratch" He said looking at the handle which was far out of his reach. Doing as he was told Sky Linx gave Ironhide a boost on his head allowing the small robot to open the door.

"I'll go get him. Saving a damsel in distress is my specialty" Sky Linx stated letting Ironhide slide back down to the floor and running down the stairs. Ironhide grumbled something about him being cocky and went to Penny's side.

"Ironhide I'm fine" She said smiling and attempting to pull herself up using the bed as leverage. Ironhide stopped her though.

"Ya need yur rest. You landed pretty hard" he responded. She had never heard Ironhide so calm and reassuring. She just nodded thinking how silly it was for them to be worried; she was fine just had to get back on her feet and get a hold of some pain killers. Sky Linx appeared back at the door in about five minutes with Ratchet on his back. When they got in the door Ratchet instantly slid off and inspected her.

"You just bruised yourself slightly." He stated.

"You should be more careful. We don't have anyone else to drive you to the hospital" He said looking rather sternly at her. She just shrugged and pulled herself up using the bed. She was really sore. Looking between the two she smiled.

"Ironhide is the one you should be talking to about taking care of himself" She stated winking at him. Ratchet gave Ironhide a confused look and Ironhide just put his hands up defensively.

"What's wrong with Ironhide?" He asked looking him over.

"Nothin" Ironhide stated pushing away the curious medic who had just been eyeing the moon shaped mark on his leg.

"Hide, tell him" She responded rather sternly.

"You better listen to the lady" Sky Linx piped in. Really he was just curious as to what was going on.

"Fine," He grumbled

"I got a tracker placed in me by some crazed collector named Mike you happy?" He said glaring at them.

"W-wait!" Penny said her eyes wide.

"His name was Mike?"

* * *

Sorry for taking so long with this guys,

I feel bad for not updating in 2 years .  
anyway this one hasn't been edited by my beta so if you see any issues with spelling grammar ect please tell me :)

i'll make sure to change it

enjoy


	9. No answers, More questions

The Children Chapter 9

No answers, More questions 

Ironhide stared up at Penny as her face slowly went white.. All she could think about is how Mike, her friend, repaired Ironhide. How he KNEW how to do it, Ironhide may be a toy but not even she had taken a peak into his insides. After the flash of light she assumed they had become actual robots, and if this was so then how would Mike have known how to fix alien technology?

"Penny," She was brought back to reality when Ratchet said her name.

"Do you know something about this?" He asked giving her a harsh look. She quietly shook her head, she didn't want to alarm them of her small realisation. After all Ironhide was unconscious the entire time Mike was around, so he didn't have the opportunity to make the connection between the two people. Come to think of it, if Ironhide was part of someone's collection why would he have just been left on the side of the road? All these questions were whizzing around in her head only confusing her further.

"I-I was just surprised that um... Ironhide knew his name" Penny said smiling slightly. Everyone there could tell her smile was forced, though none of them commented on it. Ratchet turned back to Ironhide looking him up and down once, attempting to locate the supposed tracker that had been placed on him.

"I'm going to have to open you up to find it" Ratchet stated. He obviously couldn't see it on the surface of the mechs metallic skin.

"Not now," Ironhide responded.

"Not with that damn decepticreep sittin on Penny's kitchen table" Ironhide continued glaring up at Penny slightly.

"Oh you don't have to worry about him, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe said they'd take care of him" Sky Linx said proudly. Ratchet didn't respond to this, even though he had been down there at the same time Sky Linx had.

"What do you mean by taken care of?" Penny asked struggling to her feet and heading for the door.

Nothing could have prepared Penny for what she was about to see when she walked into the kitchen. Thundercracker had been tied up in string that had previously been located in one of her kitchen drawers, and he had been hung from the top of the counter so his head was close to the ground. Magic marker was scrawled all over his body, most of it she couldn't understand but the rest was just rather rude pictures. Standing beside him was Sideswipe, he had a towel tied around his optics and in his hands was Penny's mothers wooden rolling pin.

"SIDESWIPE!" Penny said grabbing him before he could hit Thundercracker with the rolling pin.

"Awh," Sideswipe said as she took the towel off of his face.

"What were you thinking?" Penny responded putting him on the floor then gingerly lifting the blue-piñata-seeker onto the counter and untying him.

"We saw it on TV and thought it would be fun" Blaster said peeking out from the other side of the counter. The group of robots seemed to have scattered when they heard Penny coming down the stairs, and they were now sitting near the couch the TV switched on revealing some sort of teen drama.

"Is this really how ya human girls act?" Jazz said staring at the girl on the screen. She was wearing a short skirt and a guy was...oh lord. Penny left Thundercracker and grabbed the remote switching the channel to the news.

"and I thought you were supposed to be more mature because you were a commanding officer" She murmured giving him a look. There went any idea that having Jazz around would make things easier.

"Sorry ta disappoint babe but Prowl's the mature officer not me" He said smiling. Half of his optic band darkened for a second then lit back up as if he was winking at her. She rolled her eyes sighing she walked back over to the still offline Thundercracker, taking the sponge out of the sink she wiped all of the marker off of him so that he looked like he did when she left him. Glancing around the area again she realized almost all of the autobots were accounted for, minus the few which had remained upstairs. At this moment it hit her. Someone was missing.

"Boys, where's Grimlock?" Penny asked scanning the room again. He wasn't anywhere in sight.

"Oh he was being, problematic, when it came to the decepticon so I turned him offline" Ratchet said walking down the stairs, Ironhide wasnt too far behind him.

"Well where is he now?" She asked. She was concerned as to where they had stashed the poor dinobot. He may be loud and problematic but shoving him in odd places around her house was not her idea of a fun game of hide and seek.

"I shoved him in the closet" Ratchet responded simply. Penny laughed slightly, him being offline was probably the best anyway. He probably would have burnt the poor seeker or something.

"Ratchet...could you?" She said looking down at TC and stroking his face again. She felt somewhat responsible for him now, since she found him and brought him to her house. Ratchet nodded and called Sky Linx down the stairs, what he was doing up there she would never know. Ratchet climbed on his back and the largest of the transformers leaped up onto the table.

What happened next was a bit too fast for even Penny to comprehend. In order to give Ratchet some room Penny had taken a few steps away from the counter but the minute he switched on the blue seeker Thundercracker tackled Ratchet off of the counter causing him to make a painful clanging noise as he hit the ground. The blue seeker then stood up to assess the situation, automatically locating the weakest link he barrelled towards Penny as if to attack her. In a flash of yellow the most unexpected bot was standing in front of her causing the seeker to stop in his tracks.

"Come any closer Thundercracker and I'll slag you" Sunstreaker said as he pointed his blaster straight at him. Even though the yellow twin's height didn't surpass Penny's knee he still looked pretty menacing. It didn't take long for the other autobots to have their own weapons out, even though they all knew the jet was not armed. Penny stared into the red optics of the small seeker. They showed no bloodlust, or at least she wasn't seeing any. She stepped forward around her yellow companion and extended her hand to the seeker.

"Penny what do you think you're doing?" Sunstreaker said not liking the fact his hero efforts were going to waste. Penny didn't respond, she just stood there quietly her hand calmly extended. The atmosphere was very tense for at least a good five minutes before the decepticon decided to make his move. He stepped forward extending his own small black hand and put it in hers. Penny smiled softly towards him. She didn't know whether he would attack her the minute he had the chance to, but she felt the need to trust him.

"You can all put your weapons away now" Penny stated slowly letting go of the seeker's hand.

"He won't harm you"

After the incident of that morning the houses atmosphere had been way too tense and uncomfortable. All the autobots were brandishing their weapons as if a war was about to break out, but all their opponent did was sit on Penny's counter and stare at his hands. Penny couldn't really blame him, she was staring herself at him to be exact. She had been sitting on the couch with Blaster protectively at her side pretending to watch TV and it had been like this for a good 3-4 hours. Her shift at the restaurant only started at 7. She was beginning to wish it was sooner, mainly to escape the silence.

"Penny" A voice said, it took her a minute to realize who it was coming from since she was so lost in thought. It was Ratchet. The small medic had moved from his "post" under the counter and was now at her feet looking straight up at her.

"I think it would be best to take Thundercracker offline again" He stated the minute he realised he had eye contact with his new human companion. Penny's brow furrowed at that idea. She didn't like it.

"Would you like to be taken offline amidst enemy territory?" She asked her tone sounding rather neutral. This comment took Ratchet by surprise; he was used to Penny being a lot softer and didn't think she was really capable of such a tone of voice.

"I suppose not" He responded coolly glancing back over at their "prisoner." The fact he was here even set Ratchet on edge, making the current tension seem to multiply. Penny was starting to feel suffocated glancing down at her new hip implant didn't make her feel much better either. Blasters usually cheerful optics were filled with concern and maybe even a hint of anger. She couldn't stand it anymore. She stood up almost dragging Blaster with her. Marching over to TC she lifted him up, causing him to let out a surprised grunt.

"Look" She said harshly turning to face the rest of the room. The seeker made no movement to harm her or wriggle out of her grasp he just looked at her confused as to what she was doing.

"Does he LOOK like he's going to hurt me?" Penny asked. She felt like a little kid holding onto an old teddy bear her parents wanted to throw away. What frustrated her more was the lack of response from the stunned autobots. Sighing she held TC in one hand and walked out the door, if she couldn't relieve the tension she was at least going to remove the source of it. As she marched down the street she heard Blaster voice behind her.

"Ratchet let me pass. You can't expect me ta stay here and leave the girl alone with HIM" The familiar tape decks voice sounded almost desperate.

"She knows what she's doing" Ratchet responded. That was all she heard before she got out of earshot though she knew there was more protest from the other autobots. Hearing jets start up she looked down at the mechanical being still in her arms. She let him go to allow him to float on his own.

"I thought Ratchet disabled those" She mumbled to herself as she kept walking. She didn't know whether the seeker would follow her or if he would high tail it out of there. Frankly she didn't really care at the moment. Being outside felt good, it felt like someone had removed a plastic bag from her head and she could breathe again

"Where are you going?" A low voice asked, she turned her head to see the jet was easily keeping up with her.

"Anywhere but there" She said speeding up her pace.

"Why are you still here?" She asked stopping dead in her tracks.

"I'm in your debt. I am not permitted to leave until that debt is repaid" He stated, she was surprised by such little hatred she saw in his optics. She was starting to get good at reading the robot's emotions, this one seemed different then what she expected from a decepticon. She saw sadness in him, and almost a sense of peacefulness as he adjusted his thrusters so that he floated beside her.

"Why did you attack us?" She asked him. She realized she was out in the open in broad daylight but it didn't seem to make much of a difference at the moment. Thundercracker glanced down at the ground; Penny knew she probably wouldn't get the information easily.

"Before you start asking me questions maybe you should try and learn more about your allies, they haven't told you everything" He said looking at her coldly. She could only blink in response to this, what weren't the autobots telling her? Or was this merely a trick?

"Ever heard of a ship called the Arc?" He asked her. She nodded slowly and a smile seemed to perk on his lips.

"Ask your friends about it" He stated. Penny tried other questions to coax more information out of the small seeker but it didn't seem to matter what she asked she couldn't get him to speak again. The worst part was every time a car passed by they slowed down the drivers giving her the strangest looks until she yelled at them to move along. Sighing she attempted one last question.

"What do you know about a human named Mike?" She asked hopefully. She wanted to get some answers out of the decepticon but the more she got out of him the more questions arose.

"If I were you Mike isn't someone I would want to be too involved with" He stated, Penny was just relieved that he opened his mouth again to let anything other than a grunt out. This meant that Mike, whether this Mike was in fact her friend or not, knew about the existence of the decepticons.

"Can you tell me where he is?" She continued. This may of been pushing it a bit. Thundercracker gave her a rather interesting look at this question. It didn't seem to be that of confusion, his look almost mocked her. As if he was holding information he knew she needed just slightly out of her grasp.

"I don't think I should tell you information you already know" That seemed to be the last response he was willing to give her. His body language stated that he wasn't willing to talk much further, he was no longer facing her but instead watching the world around him. He seemed to become extremely interested in the flight path of a nearby butterfly. Penny sighed again, she had been sighing so much lately she had an odd fear that at some point she might hyperventilate. She hadn't found out much but, there was one thing she knew for sure: she was going to have a decepticon body guard until he repaid his debt he believed he owed her.

* * *

Hey everyone!  
Its been a while  
I hope you enjoyed this chapter of The Children :)  
its a little bit slower because I have something big planned for the next chapter!  
Thanks for reading!


	10. Some Truths are Better Left Untold

The Children Chapter 10

Some Truths are Better Left Untold

Penny stood on the driveway staring at her house; a small blue jet was floating beside her silently. She took a deep breath. This was it, she had made her decision, and she was going to get the answers she needed. Walking up to the door she flung it open rather roughly, startling a small red robot who had been sitting in the doorway. Penny looked at Blaster for only a few minutes before walking past him, jet still in tow. She hadn't completely decided on a plan of action but, for some strange reason, she made a beeline for the closet.

"Penny?" Blaster said standing at her heels. His gun was out but not pointed at anything for the moment.

"Not now Blaster" Penny responded as she found what she was looking for. She lifted up the lifeless form of Grimlock and brought him into the family room and practically dropped him in Ratchets lap.

"I don't want anyone else turned offline without their permission" She stated harshly bending down so that she was eye level with the medic who until this point had been watching the news, more about destroyed toy stores it seemed.

"Got it?" she asked to the shocked medic. Ratchet didn't respond he just nodded and flicked Grimlock back online.

"ME GRIMLOCK NO LIKE NAPS" He yelled the minute his optics were online. A spiral of flames blasted out from his throat, causing both Penny and Ratchet to jump back in shock. Luckily the flames only slightly singed the ceiling before the small dinosaur stopped spouting them. He seemed to have found something else much more interesting, his optics zeroed in on the form of Thundercracker who was still faithfully floating beside Penny. Growling fire began to build up in his mouth again. Thinking fast Penny put herself in between the Dinosaur and the decepticon in the hopes that he would rethink what he was doing if his human companion was in the line of fire.

"Grimlock" Penny said shakily

"This decepticon is under my protection, he will not be harmed. Do you understand?" Her voice was nowhere near as harsh as she wanted it to be, but it seemed to do the trick.

"We work with decepticons now? Me Grimlock never going to understand stupid humans" he stated before hoping off the couch. Penny sighed, again, her ribs seemed to be getting aggravated by the amount of movement she had been doing as well as by the stress she felt she was under. This gave her a moment to take a good look around, the twins were sitting up on the counter fooling around with some eggs they managed to get out of the fridge, Ratchet was of course on the couch with Grimlock below him who was trying to reach the remote placed on the coffee table in the middle of the room. Blaster had just walked in looking rather crestfallen and Jazz, Ironhide and Sky Lynx were nowhere to be found.

"Where are the others?" She asked directing her question towards Ratchet.

"They're in your room" He replied. The tone of voice he used was probably the coldest Penny had heard yet.

"Can you get them down here? I need to talk to all of you" Penny stated. She was well aware the autobots had some sort of radio system, or at least they did in the show. Of course she realized that it WAS a cartoon and right now these robots were real but, she couldn't help but revert to what she knew.

"I can" Blaster piped in nervously. Penny nodded at him as if to give him permission. Blasters optics went a very light shade of their normal blue for a few minutes then as they came back into focus Sky Lynx came bounding down the stairs, Ironhide and Jazz on his back.

"You rang?" Jazz said smiling brightly as if there wasn't a care in the world.

"Uh, yeah do you guys mind taking a seat?" Penny asked directing them to the couch.

"Sure babe" Jazz replied as Sky Lynx moved closer to the couch allowing the two smaller bots to climb up on it. As they did Ironhide glanced up at the ceiling.

"Grimlock. What the slag did ya do to Penny's ceiling?" He asked glaring at the dinobot who was getting increasingly frustrated by not being able to reach the remote.

"Me Grimlock redecorated" Ironhide didn't have a response for that one. Penny was about to start when she heard a splat coming from the kitchen.

"Oops, eh, Sorry about that Penny" The voice of a small red and black twin said as he peered over the side of the counter at a cracked egg now splattered all over the floor. Ignoring the egg Penny scooped up the two twins and plopped them down on the floor by the couch, much to Sunstreakers delight. He didn't seem to like being picked up too much. Penny looked at Thundercracker who just nodded and exited the room.

"Now that everyone is here" She started as she watched Sideswipe take a seat on Sky Lynx's back. Penny had never been good at public speaking and this was driving her nerves up the wall.

"Um, I have some questions to ask you guys, the first one concerning the Arc" She stated. Her audience seemed to shift nervously in their seats. Even Grimlock had gone quiet and stopped going after the remote, he was looking at Penny curiously. She glanced down at him slightly but then refocused her attention.

"Very simple, i want to know if its real." She stated. The entire room stayed silent, her question wasn't specifically directed toward anyone but the only person who moved to answer it was Grimlock, who was promptly scooped up by Sky Lynx and taken out back using the excuse that as "primitives" they needed exercise and were getting too restless and couldnt stay inside any longer.

"You might want to answer her question" Thundercracker had flown back in and perched on the kitchen counter looking at the autobots smugly. Finally Jazz stepped up.

"Penny , I hate to be the one to spoil this. You see, information such as that is classified." He stated in the most authoritative tone she had heard ever leave the black and white mechs mouth.

"Even if we could tell ya Penny, we wouldn't in the presence of that slagger" Ironhide chirped in gesturing his hand in the direction of Thundercracker. Penny looked at each of them her face shocked.

"So youre saying that even if he wasn't here, you wouldn't tell me?"

Penny slammed the dishes onto the counter after clearing them off the table. She was not in a good mood after the confrontation with her boys.

"You think alien robots would know who to trust..." She mumbled to herself as she headed to another table to take an order. Her mumbles had earned her a few strange looks from both her co-workers and the customers but she really didn't care at the moment.

"Hey there, are you ready to order?" She asked brightly to a table containing a small family of four. It took them a while to get everything sorted out and she had to erase and rewrite things as the families young kids kept changing their mind.

"Alright your order will be out in a bit" She said continuing her very forced smile and heading back to the kitchen. She hung up the order for the chef but before she could pull away a big muscular hand grabbed onto her wrist.

"Eh Penny" A gruff man said from the other side of the counter.

"Yes Moe?" She asked wincing slightly under the larger mans grip. He grabbed her so suddenly it has caused her to twist her body in a way it really did not want to twist.

"I noticed ya struggling with some of those dishes. I can talk to teh boys about takin over the heavy stuff if ya want. We don't need any more of them accidents" He said releasing her hand. She couldn't quiet place the accent that Moe used, his voice was low and he didn't speak that much. He did seem to tolerate her putting her stuff under his kitchen's island though.

"Thanks Moe, but I can handle things." She said sweetly then turned back to deal with more customers.

Penny stared up at the moonlit sky, stretching she inhaled through her nose letting it noisily out her mouth. It had been a really busy day she thought to herself as she continued her walk home. She was far enough from the restaurant that nobody she knew could see her any longer.

"Why do you humans put up with this?" A small blue jet asked floating alongside her. He had requested to come with her and since she was currently upset with all the autobots she had allowed him to tag along.

"Cause if I don't do the work someone else will have to" Penny responded glancing over at him. She had made him stay in her backpack until they got far enough away for her to let him out. She stared at the streets around her as well, she hated being on the late shifts like this. The streets were dark the houses were dark and she felt very alone. Pulling her backpack in front of her she checked the clock which she had attached to it. The numbers blinked 12:15pm.

"Gosh it's late" She mumbled heading down the next street. She only had about another 15min walk before she was home and despite the argument with her housemates earlier she was looking forward to being in the safety of her own home.

"Penny, not to alarm you but I believe we are being followed" Thundercracker said glancing behind him.

"My sensors are picking up another human lifeform which has been following us for some time" By this point he had climbed back into Penny's backpack. She had drilled him earlier about being seen my other humans. Penny spun around quickly to look behind her, almost knocking the small jet out of the bag again.

"I don't see anyone." She said glancing back at her bag. Penny truly believed the jets sensors were faulty until she began hearing some rustling in the bushes not to far away from her. Taking a few steps back she began to get chills down her spine. This was reminding her way too much of what her parents had always told her about pedophiles abducting young girls who were walking around alone.

"W-who's there?" She stuttered nervously her eyes becoming alert in an attempt to see, her only light source being that of the street lamps.

"Ok ok you caught me" A male voice said stepping out from the bushes. She would've been scared except for the fact she clearly recognised the form of her co-worker.

"Mike?" She asked staring at him. He had a few branches stuck in his brown hair and his clothing seemed to be ruffled. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a dark blue shirt, they both now were covered in burrs. Despite that he looked pretty good, that is until she was able to steal a glance at his hands. His left wrist was wrapped up in gauze.

"Mike what are you doing here? And what happened to your hand?" She asked flustered. After the entire Ironhide thing she wasn't too sure what to think of him.

"I got worried about you, I knew you had the late shift and I wanted to make sure you got home ok" He said shrugging slightly causing a twig to fall out of his hair. His light blue eyes were calm and cold, they didn't express the same careless emotions the rest of his body did.

"B-but you don't know where I live" She said giving him a strange look. She could hear Thundercracker mumbling something from the shelter of her backpack.

"I thought I'd deal with figuring that out later" He said sending a smile in her direction. Something inside her made her want to tell him not to come any closer and to just go home, but that was rude especially since he was being so nice to her.

"Mike I appreciate this really, but I do need to go home and I think I can make it on my own" She responded taking a few steps back from him. Suddenly he moved forward and hugged her causing more chills to run up and down her spine.

"Penny, I'm really worried for you" He said into her ear. For some reason she was starting to feel weaker under his grasp. Luckily something suddenly barrelled into the young man's legs, causing both Penny and Mike to topple back in opposite directions. This is when Penny realised how heavy her breathing had gotten and she was feeling exhausted all of the sudden.

"Don't. Touch. Her" A small red robot was now standing where Mike was only moments ago.

"Blaster?" She asked staring at him in shock. When in the world did he get there?

"I guess I forgot to mention his spark signature was also in the area" Thundercracker said as he climbed out of her backpack. Now that Blaster was here there was no need for the decepticon to conceal himself. Mike glared at the small robot's his blue eyes as cold as ever.

"You should stay out of places you don't belong" He said swiping his hand in an attempt to grab hold of Blaster. Penny climbed to her feet weakly almost falling back over from the strain, when had she gotten this tired? She wondered to herself. Moving one of her legs in front of Blaster she attempted to stop Mike from grabbing hold of him.

"...you doing?" She asked between breaths. He began laughing looking down at himself, when he looked back up at her his eyes were glowing.

"Can't you feel your energy being drained whenever I touch you? At first I took very little but now. Now more is needed" He said and lunged for her ankle as if to grab hold of it. This only resulted with a laser burn on his left arm causing him to keel back in pain. Blaster was now holding his gun still smoking from the previous blast and pointing it readily at the human.

"What did I say about not touching her?" Blaster growled in the most enraged voice she had ever heard the small tape deck use.

"Penny get out of here" Blaster said barely glancing back at her. The problem was she could barely move her feet, forget running back to her house.

"Blaster...I cant" She panted knowing full well she wouldn't be standing upright for much longer.

"Autobot, you worry about that human. I will protect your companion" Thundercracker said positioning himself close to her. Blaster turned to glare at the seeker but his attention was refocused when Mike got up to his feet.

"Alright but if you hurt her" Blaster started

"Just pay attention!" Thundercracker snarled as Mike lunged toward the small autobot missing him by only a few inches.

* * *

Author's notes:

Hey everyone ^-^

As promised here's the next chapter

Hope you enjoyed it!

I'm going to try and keep things going on a month-to-month basis  
Basically that means a new chapter once a month  
As long as school and life provides  
I do hope to finish off this story this year =D  
but there still is alot to come

Stay tuned!  
Whitestreaker signing out~


	11. Old Friend

The Children Chapter 11  
Old Friend

Just keep breathing. Penny thought to herself as she felt her own body hit the floor. She couldn't do anything to stop herself from the far too eminent darkness. She heard the voices of her friends yell out to her as she lost consciousness.

Penny awoke again with a start. Putting her hand up to her forehead she felt beads of sweat rolling down it. The bodily liquid had pretty much soaked through her clothes. Opening her eyes slowly she stared at an unfamiliar ceiling, squinting at it she tried to remember whether she recognized it or not. Her memories slowly came flooding back to her; she sat up and looked around an unfamiliar room. A look of concern plastered on her face.

"Oh you're awake, that's good" An elderly man stepped into the room carrying a basket of clothes. He was wearing a white t-shirt with a blue sweater vest over it. He bent down and placed the basket on the end of the bed, sitting in the chair beside it. His knees poked out of the holes in his worn jeans.

"You probably want to change, something in there should fit you" He continued pointing to the basket.

"W-wait, who are you? Where am I?" She stammered looking at him. There was nobody in her memory who matched the appearance of this elderly man. He was balding, his grey hair only sitting around his ears, and it was matted slightly giving the appearance of always wearing a hat.

"Oh of course! My names Sparkplug" He said gruffly, extending his hand out to the young girl. Penny took it nervously her hands sticking slightly to the old mans. She ignored the fact he wiped his hand on his pants after the wet handshake, she really did hate sweat.

"You're in my house. Now I must admit I never expected to hear from the autobots again after what happened but..." Penny just had to break in and stop him.

"Wait, again? Sparkplug...no way you aren't.."

"Do I need the hard hat and wrench to prove it to you?" He asked laughing. Penny just sat there mouth gaping open. She had never thought the humans from the cartoon were real people, but then again, if the autobots were real why not the humans?

"Anyway, get changed, maybe some of Carly's old clothing will fit you. We can talk more later. Bathroom is down the hall to the right. Feel free to use the shower." He said smiling.

"From the amount of sweat you've been giving off, I half expect you to use the shower" That last comment made Penny turn bright red. She probably looked a mess. The minute the old man stood up and left the room she began rifling through the clothing. There was pretty much everything she would need in there. Some of the clothing looked really old while others looked like it belonged to some kids. Maybe he has grandkids? She thought to herself remembering Daniel from the animated movie. Eventually she managed to pull something together walking down the white hallway with it and entering the bathroom. It was small and looked very clean. The walls were painted a light blue and there was a pile of fresh towels sitting on the white counter top. Taking a glance in the mirror she automatically felt disgusted with herself. She looked like she had been rolling in the dirt after leaving a lake.

Clean and standing back in the hallway she looked like she had been pulled out of an old movie. The light blue pants sat uncomfortably up around her stomach and the purple shirt has a sizable white belt around its midsection. Stepping out of the bathroom she almost tripped over something. When she saw what it was she almost burst into tears.

"Blaster" She said falling to the ground and clutching the small robot to her chest.

"Hey there babe." He said allowing her to hold him tightly. Penny was just so happy to see a familiar face.

"Blaster what happened? Wheres Mike? and Thundercracker?" She asked placing him back on the floor.

"Mikes' in the hospital and Thundercracker...i'm sorry Penny I just don't know" He finished shrugging his shoulders slightly causing him to look small and helpless. Penny sighed and nodded.

"How did I get here?" Was her next question. She needed answers. She needed to know what had happened to her as well as what Sparkplug meant when he had said something had happened which was the reason why he hadn't seen the autobots in a while.

"I believe the term is "calling in a favour" right?" Another voice said. Looking up she saw Sky Linx standing at the top of the stairs

"The others are waiting for you downstairs" He finished turning around and descending the spiral staircase to the main floor. Nervously Penny reached out to pick up Blaster, who immediately stepped away from her.

"Not this time babe, this guys an old friend. Don't want him thinking we've gone soft you know?" He said walking over to the stairs himself. Penny paused as she watched him, longing to grab hold of her small red friend to comfort her. Swallowing hard she nodded and stood up following him as he struggled down the steps. It would've been a lot easier for her to bring him down.

The layout of this house was significantly different to that of her own. The stairs led straight into the kitchen where Sparkplug was sitting at the table drinking some sort of hot liquid, her only assumption that it was tea. On the wall beside him was the door to the backyard which had a small light brown mat in front of it which had the words "Want inside? Wipe your feet" neatly stitched in black thread. The kitchen counter lined half of the walls and there was an island sitting in the middle. To the right there appeared to be a sitting area with a white fireplace. On the other side of the seating area was a delicately arched doorway, which lead off to another place in the house Penny couldn't make out where. Overall the place just looked really clean. Sparkplug looked up when he realised the fact Penny had spent a prolonged time standing at the bottom of his stairs, putting down his mug he waved her over.

"Come on over and take a seat," he said smiling and pointing to a chair beside him. In front of the chair there was a place that had a cover over it.

"Hope you like French toast" He said as she took her seat.

"You sure I can eat this?" she asked eyeing the cover. She hadn't had French toast since her parents had left and she felt guilty already for how hospitable he had been.

"Sure, I haven't had visitors in some time now; it's nice to have someone around. Sit, eat and we can talk" He finished picking up a piece of newspaper off of the table and opening it. She ignored the ironic image of an elderly man doing a crossword and removed the cover from the plate. She took her time as she started eating. Her eyes focussed on Blaster as she watched him struggle up onto the third chair which surrounded the rectangular table. He was too small to see up over the table while in the chair so he moved up onto the table, This caused Sky Linx to take the now empty chair.

"Where are the others?" She asked looking at the two of eight robots she had living in her house. Sparkplug raised his eyebrow at this remark.

"There are more? How curious. Who do you have?" He asked barely looking up from the crossword. The way he asked who she had sounded like he was requesting her to trade cards or something.

"Our army currently consists of Jazz, Grimlock, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, Ironhide, Ratchet, and of course Blaster and myself" Sky Linx responded for Penny causing Sparkplug to merely nod as if this was no big deal.

"You ended up with the fun ones" He said chuckling. Penny frowned she hadn't gotten her own answer but they had answered Sparkplugs question. Sparkplug looked up seeing her frustration and just smiled.

"Alright alright, we'll answer yours from now on. Blaster got a hold of me to come get you after they knocked Mike out. They didn't want you mixed up in the mess they left Mike in so I brought you here and called an ambulance. From what I could tell he just seemed to have energon poisoning but Blaster here insists otherwise." He finished telling his story and leaned back slightly in his chair.

"Thats about all I know about the situation. I have been told not to give you too much information about the past though." He stated giving Blaster a confused glance and refusing to say anymore. Penny nodded and sighed heavily.

"Can you take me home please?" She asked looking at the elderly gentleman. She had tons of questions for him but really all she wanted was to go home get into something that didn't make her feel like her ribs were going to collapse in on her and talk with Ratchet.

It didn't take long for her to arrive back at her house. Who knew a cartoon character lived so close by? She thought to herself smiling slightly. When she got out of the car and headed up to her door she found it was locked her eyes widening she realised she no longer had her backpack.

"Looking for this?" Sparkplug said removing her familiar bag from his trunk. It was stained slightly with energon and she swallowed hard when she realised there was also dark red stains. Quickly removing her house key from her bag she unlocked the door. Once open Grimlock jumped out causing Penny to let out a surprised squeak.

"You no come home last night, where you Penny been?" He asked growling at her slightly.

"Calm down Grimlock i'm pretty sure Penny had a very good reason for not..." Ratchet had stepped outside as well but his voice trailed off when he saw the elderly gentleman.

"Its been a while" Sparkplug said looking at the miniature version of Ratchet.

"Step in, both of you" Ratchet responded looking at the group.

It didn't take long for everyone to be caught up with what had happened in the last few days. Penny assisted the autobots in telling her story of how each and every one of them came to life from action figures and she also filled them in on what had happened with Mike. The answers she herself had obtained unfortunately were very few.

"Im going to leave now." Sparkplug stated standing at her door Penny nodded coming over to him.

"Thank you for everything you've done for me" She responded smiling and giving him a hug. She was now wearing a baggy blue t-shirt and jeans, much more comfortable then the outfit she had squeezed into earlier. He took her hand and smiled.

"Take care of yourself and them. Oh, if you ever wake up Bumblebee make sure to bring him over." He said and headed out the door. When he took his hand away there was a crumpled up piece of paper left in her hand. Closing her door she unfolded it carefully, on it was a set of co-ordinates and the words "Use this wisely" scribbled below it.

"What that?" Jazz asked. He had followed her to the door when Sparkplug had left.

"Just a good luck note" Penny lied smiling at him. Jazz just nodded smiling back.

"Sparkplugs a good guy" Jazz finished heading back into the other room. A movie was playing on her TV, must have been on one of the few channels she actually had.

"With great power comes great responsibility" One of the elderly characters said.

"This doesn't look right" Penny said out loud to herself. She had managed to mark the co-ordinates down on a map and figured out a bus route. It had taken forever to break free from the clutches of the autobots. They had become increasingly more protective of her ever since the incident with Mike.

"This really doesn't look right" She repeated to herself. Repeating things really didn't do her much good of course, especially when no one was there to listen to her complain. She was staring at a forest, that was it that was all that was there. Sighing heavily she leaned against a tree staring at the map again. She did get the co-ordinates right.

Maybe if I walk to exactly where it is? She thought as she moved into the forest. She felt a wave go over her when she got a few inches away from the point on the map. Looking up she saw a massive orange spaceship had materialized out of thin air. Letting out a loud gasp she squeaked.

"Its...its the ark!"

* * *

Hey there everyone!  
I appreciate the patience you guys have had with me  
I know I didnt submit a chapter last month, life is just crazy and unpredictable sometimes ^^;  
Im planning to put up two chapters this month to make up for it  
Chapter 12 has already been started because of that =D  
Hope this one wasnt too slow for you!  
Thanks for reading!  
-Whitestreaker


	12. Moonlight Repairs

The Children Chapter 12

Moonlight Repairs

Penny took a step back and almost as instantly as it appeared the giant ship was gone again. Rubbing her eyes Penny took a few more steps forward, once again it appeared. She looked at the giant ship confused by its disappearing act. It looked like it had been there for some time, weeds were overgrown all around it, and a small family of squirrels had made a hole in the side their home. Out front was a large green jeep. It was rusted slightly and coated in a layer of moss and weeds looked exactly like the setting behind it, old and forgotten. Taking a few more steps forward she put her hand gently on the vehicles hood taking a better look at it she noticed a large object was protruding from its back. Looking back down at the hood she realised something, strangely enough it felt slightly warm. She furrowed her brow and began clearing the rest of the weeds and vines from the vehicle. She was honestly shocked by how much there was, after clearing up enough of the seats she managed to climb on them and reach up to clear the weeds off of the strange object.

"No way" She said as she stared at the large white tubular object. It was glowing very dimly and was pointed away from the ark. Looking back down at the vehicles steering wheel she recognised a very clear autobot symbol in the center.

"Hound?" She asked out loud. She knew the jeep had looked familiar; the cartoon had the exact same vehicle. The machine didn't make any movements, it didn't respond to her. Shoulders drooping slightly she sat in the driver's seat. The entire Ark was sitting behind her and now she didn't know what to do with it. She didn't even know whether it was safe to enter it. Suddenly the engine started up,

"Eeep!" Penny squeaked in surprise, the jeep creaked as the wheels barely turned it didn't move an inch. The wheels were rusted in place Penny knew that, the vehicle didn't seem to.

"Hound?" She asked again this time with a bit more urgency. She was starting to feel rather ridiculous talking to a jeep which suddenly sprang to life.

"I think im stuck..." A voice said emanating from the vehicle. Penny sighed heavily relieved to hear she wasn't going crazy with her assumptions and excited by the fact that this transformer wasn't tiny. He was full size, real and big.

"Ma'am do you have a license for this vehicle?" A tall gruff man asked as he hooked up his tow truck to the front of the green jeep.

"Uh no, I found it today." She said giving the man a guilty look. She didn't know what else to do in this situation. She didn't want to leave Hound out here any longer in the condition he was in, so calling in someone to tow him at least to her house was the best idea she had. Hound hadn't agreed to let her do so at first but after struggling for some time until finally managing to remove his hologram projector, which was what the huge object on his back was. He finally agreed to it. The projector now cloaked the ark right behind where the jeep was sitting.

"Well I ran the license plate through, and it isn't registered to anyone. To honest I think this old pile of rust should be just towed to the dump. I'll do that for free for you if you want?" The man finished as he managed to loosen the two back wheels so they would actually turn enough for him to tow it.

"No!" That came out before she even had time to stop herself. The man gave her a strange look and swallowing hard she attempted to mend her speech.

"er...I mean no thanks. I want to see if I can fix him up first" She finished looking at him nervously. The man just shrugged and finished hooking up the rusty green jeep.

"If you insist, but I don't think there is much you can do for this one. Get in the front with me i'll drive you home. Might as well its better than waiting for your bus to drop you off" The man finished motioning toward the passenger side door. Penny thanked him and climbed in, it would definitely be interesting trying to piece Hound back together.

The man with the tow truck's name was Al, he had two kids and was married to " a very beautiful girl". Or at least that's what he said. He talked Penny's ear off the entire time back to her house. It was about a half hour car ride and she knew more about the man then his kids probably did.

"Thanks for your help" Penny said as he helped her get the jeep into her garage. It took a bit of effort because she had to move a heaping pile of car parts over to one corner of her garage. Hound fit in perfectly beside her father's vehicle which was covered up by a sheet. Running inside to grab some cash she swiftly paid Al and ushered him on his way. The minute the truck was out of sight she took a very heavy sigh.

"Anymore of those family stories and I would've been sick" She said looking back at the green jeep now sitting in her garage. The damage to his body seemed rather extensive, there was rust all over the place and with Hound's lack of ability to move or transform... She honestly didn't know how she was going to fix him up.

"From what I heard of them I found rather interesting" He responded. She couldn't really tell whether that was supposed to be sarcasm or not. Truthfully without being able to see his face she couldn't tell what any of his emotions were. She walked closer to the jeep and placed her hand on his hood, once again it was slightly warm.

"So he did give ya the co-ordinates" A voice said coming from behind her. Penny jumped slightly and turned around. Leaning against the opening to the garage arms crossed was Jazz.

"Uh Jazz I can..." Penny trailed off. She really couldn't explain why she hadn't shown Jazz the note Sparkplug had given her. She probably should have but she just didn't. If Thundercracker had stuck around to simply to place a seed of doubt in her mind he had succeeded.

"Don't fret too much over it Pen" He responded. Penny didn't really understand why he didn't use her full name but the fact he wasn't mad made everything better.

"Hound I'd like to say it was nice to see you man but, what happened?" The small white and black robot walked into the garage to inspect all of the rust marks on his clearly larger friend.

"To be honest with you I wasn't even aware of my surroundings until your human friend was sitting in me" Hound responded chuckling slightly. Penny just stood there awkwardly not really knowing what to say to either of them. Letting them talk a bit was probably the best idea anyway, she thought as she moved out of the garage and into her house. She wasn't attacked by anyone this time; Ratchet had been holding up the fort a lot better than Jazz ever did. The only difference now was the Ratchet had someone to back his threats up with.

"Penny?" Looking down she saw Ironhide.

"I know things've been rough fer ya lately. The boys'n I were thinking, maybe we should... well ya know give ya a nice long break of something" He said as he shifted his weight from one leg to another uncomfortably.

"You want to leave?" Penny asked him furrowing her brow. She didn't think something like this would come up until someone like Prowl or Optimus were in positions of power.

"We'd jus be over at Sparkplug's" He responded quickly. Penny just shook her head and sat down on her knees.

"Ironhide, its been a while since I've had anyone else living in this house. You guys bring life into it. Please don't leave." She leaned closer to Ironhide her eyes tearing up slightly.

"I knew that'd be your answer" Ratchet voice said. He had jumped off the couch and came over.

"Penny, when you were gone Thundercracker came by. He told us what had happened with Mike and that he felt we were endangering you by staying here." Sideswipe said this; he had now joined into the conversation. His brother Sunstreaker just leaned against the wall not too far away pretending to not pay attention to the current conversation.

"At first we didn't believe'im" Ironhide continued shrugging slightly.

"But then your story confirmed his and with us at our current size we may not be able to continue protecting you from the decepticon threat. I've already spoken to Jazz about this but he didn't put in much input so it's going to be a consensus decision" Ratchet finished. Everything in the way of his speech and stature said that he was serious and emotionless, but Penny knew what to look for. Pain was behind his strong optics.

"You guys are worried about not being able to protect me because of your size?" She asked them her mind already forming an idea. They all nodded at her question causing her to smile slightly.

"Well you guys have obviously not looked in the garage"

"I need everyone to stay back, don't touch him until I look him over" Ratchet said pushing the nose of a far too curious Grimlock away from Hound's tire.

"There isn't much on earth that can rust Cybertronian metal" He finished as he began to inspect the rust patches covering the scout's body. Penny had informed the others of who exactly she now had in her garage. This had caused all eight mini robots to congregate in her garage themselves and having them all in there meant she had to close the doors if she didn't wish to warrant unwanted attention. This made the area seem considerably darker since there was only one lonely light bulb hanging from the ceiling.

"So what do you think doc? Am I going to live?" Hound asked calmly. Once again Penny had trouble deciding whether he was joking with this comment or not.

"Me Grimlock think finding out why rusty bot still big while me Grimlock little more important" The small dinosaur said stamping his foot on the ground unhappily.

"Chill Grimlock being this size has its advantages" Jazz said calmly sitting in one of Hounds seats. Ratchet had tried to get him to leave but eventually given up the excuse being that Jazz wasn't actually touching any of the metallic parts.

"Hound appears to have a very slight case of cosmic rust." Ratchet said frowning slightly. His optics began scanning the room as if he was looking for something.

"Looking for something like this" Blaster said dragging over a piece of metal from the car parts on the other side of the room. Ratchet nodded and took the metal, he put it up against a rusted part of Hound's body. Nothing happened.

"Couldn't he have a case of normal rust?" Penny asked glancing at the piece of metal in Ratchets hand, but surely enough it slowly began to brown. The change was so slight that it took Penny a really long time to notice it at all. Ratchet nodded at the newly formed tinted brown patch rubbing his chin in thought.

"We're going to have to remove the rusted parts" Ratchet stated.

"Preferably without actually touching the metal ourselves" He finished trying to figure out how he was going to do this.

"Im not metal." Penny offered.

"Just tell me what to do"

It had taken them a lot longer than Penny had expected to remove all of Hounds rusted parts. She had to use tons of different tools she was not used to using and her cast around her ribs proved it difficult for her to move into too many positions. By the time they were done Hound looked a lot more like a shell of a car then an actual vehicle.

"Aren't you cold?" Penny asked Hound as she struggled to move the rusted bits away from anything metal.

"I'm a Cybertronian Penny. I'm all metal so I don't have as sensitive a nervous system as you humans do" He said making a robotic sigh.

"You are lucky, you humans" He continued wistfully. Penny stared at the vehicle strangely, she had to admit that was the first time she had ever heard one of the transformers say they wanted to be like her. Ratchet began surveying what was left of Hound now that most of his outer shell had been removed. Penny could only guess he was looking for internal damage, there didn't seem to be any but Penny wasn't going to interrupt the medics work.

"Hound, you're missing your transformation cog" Ratchet said his optics widening slightly as he sifted through the wires that were where the hood used to be. Penny searched he memory trying to remember what that looked like. What drew more of her attention was the sizeable black box that had been where the hood was. After cleaning the rust from her hands she couldn't help but place her hand on it causing the entire vehicle to creak uncomfortably.

"Penny" Ratchet said giving her a warning glance. She instantly pulled her hand away feeling bad for not asking Ratchet what the box was before laying her hand on it. She had forgotten that this was basically surgery to the transformers and she had to be gentler about everything that was in them.

"Did I hurt you?" She asked Hound trying to keep her distance from him.

"No, you didn't hurt him that's the spark chamber" Sunstreaker had just entered the garage through the little space she had left between the garage door and the ground. This allowed passage for small autobots ever since Ratchet had kicked them all out.

"You over reacted a bit Rusty" Sunstreaker said leaning against the wall and watching Ratchet as he continued to survey the wreckage. Penny turned and glared at the little yellow robot.

"If you just came in here to insult him then get out" She stated strongly. The yellow twin was nothing like Sideswipe he hadn't even really made an effort to get to know Penny.

"Uh..." was all Sunstreaker could say in response. He hadn't been taken aback by Penny 's harsh reaction. She continued to glare at him until he managed to utter a response.

"Well if I'm not wanted here then I guess I will take my leave" He said as he sauntered out maintaining somewhat of a haughty stance.

"You were a bit harsh" Hounds voice said another creaking sound coming from somewhere within him.

"He was insulting you" Penny responded turning to face the heap of metal.

"He's always been like that though. It's his way of showing concern..." Hound finished trailing off. Penny stared at the area of the garage where the yellow robot had exited.

"You should go, I don't need you here any longer now that the rust problem has been contained" Ratchet stated not even turning to look at the expression on Penny's face. Sighing she thanked him and moved the garage up just enough for her to sneak through; then returned it to its previous position. She couldn't believe she was actually going after him. Once she was back in the standing position she looked around, it was already dark, a lot had happened to distract her from the time. At the end of her driveway was Sunstreaker, to her surprised he was sitting on the curb staring up at the sky where a brilliant full moon shone. Penny walked over and sat beside him.

"Pretty isn't it?" She asked glancing down at him. Trying to fix this situation wasn't the easiest thing to do. He nodded and turned to face her.

"Kinda reminds me of myself during the day" He said smirking. Penny's face scrunched up as she tried to hold back but she couldn't help it. She began to giggle.

"I thought we could have a tender moment there" She said laughing a bit harder causing herself to cough and wheeze due to pain in her ribs.

"You're going to kill yourself" He said smiling back at her. This was the first time she had seen him smile since he had come to life and it was when she was in pain.

"You really are twisted" She responded sitting there comfortable in his presence.

"Hey you haven't even seen some of the things Sideswipe has done" He retorted defending himself. She didn't respond to that, she just continued sitting there looking at the yellow bot. She had to admit if she squinted he did glow a tiny bit in the light of the moon.

* * *

Believe is or not this chapter has been done for over three weeks xD  
My amazing editor has just been so busy with school work that it took him a while to go over it ^^; So sorry for the delay this is the second chapter that was promised for November :)  
Hope you enjoyed it!  
Please R&R I love hearing what you think!~  
Thanks for reading next chapter should be out before the end of December~!


	13. Its A Start

The Children Chapter 13  
Its a Start

"Penny we have a bit of a problem now" Ratchet said looking up at her. They were both standing inside the garage and staring down at the metal mass of Hound. His shell was now covered by a thick tarp, they couldn't risk the cosmic rust spreading to any of the others.

"Whats the problem? Are you infected or something" Penny said bending over to inspect the small medic. She had on a yellow apron and thick electrical gloves which were evidently meant for someone much larger then her. She had intended to try and reassemble Hound today and she wanted to be ready. This of course also meant she was ditching school, again. They were going to start calling soon if she didn't show up.

"It's not me, it's the fact that we don't have much material to put Hound back together with" Ratchet stated looking back and forth between Hound and the large pile of metal Penny's father had left in the garage. Ratchet had suggested they take apart her dad's car, but she couldn't bring herself to do it, her dad had been working on it for weeks before he left and he wanted to reveal it himself when he finished it. That wasn't going to happen now, but she hadn't bothered to look under the tarp.

"I guess we could go check the dump?" She suggested sitting down beside him and staring at the poor transformer. He creaked loudly as his body shuddered in an attempt to move.

"You guys are going through too much trouble for me" Hound stated. Penny was still trying to get used to the disembodied voice. She was used to the transformers voices coming from tiny vehicles. Having someone so large made things more difficult. Suddenly the garage creaked open further and an elderly man stepped in.

"Could I be of any use?" He said smiling. Penny gave him a very confused glance in response, he was wearing basically the same thing he wore last time they had met. This time his visit however was unwarranted.

"Sparkplug? What are you doing here?" She asked looking between him and Ratchet. She wasn't going to shoot down anyone who wished to help repair Hound, but after what Ironhide had said about leaving... She was beginning to feel over protective about her boys.

"I'm here to help Ratchet reassemble Hound, and you missy are going to school" He said softly smiling. Ratchet nodded slowly waving Sparkplug over and allowing him to inspect the wreckage.

"W-wait! I'm not going to school, not when Hound's like this" Penny responded sounding exasperated. She found Hound, she had brought him here, she didn't want Sparkplug to fix him up then take him away.

"Penny" Another voice said, looking down she saw Blaster was tugging gently on her pants. His optics looked calm and reassuring but when she moved to pick him up they turned harsh again. _Right_, she thought _no picking up the autobots when Sparkplug is around._

"Sparkplug can help Hound, ya need to catch up with school work. I'll come to school with you" Blaster said smiling. She nodded back down at him sighing, she was going to need to give in to this at least this way she knew she wasn't going to lose Blaster as well.

"Alright" She said removing the gloves and the apron to reveal her normal clothing. She was wearing a plain white t-shirt and black pants, it probably wasn't the best choice for vehicle work but she was too excited about fixing Hound to over think what she was wearing. Handing the gloves and apron to Sparkplug she smiled weakly.

"Take care of them ok?" She asked the only other human in the room. He gratefully took the equipment and smiled back nodding; they would be safe with him.

Penny creaked open her locker sighing as she removed the familiar red tape deck from the top shelf. School had felt like it lasted forever and she was getting antsy to return to her small friend. Hugging him to her chest she pulled out her backpack and put it on, locking her locker then walking out of the school.

"How was your day?" Blasters voice echoed from the speakers the minute they were out of range from any humans.

"Slow" She responded shifting the weight on her back. She had missed so much homework in the last few days, even though she hadn't been gone that long.

"I think I've fallen behind in schoolwork" Penny continued with a guilty smile. All she wanted to do was run home, she needed to know Hound's condition. Suddenly a car pulled up beside her and honked twice; looking in through the window she saw the face of Sparkplug smiling back out at her.

"Oh hi!" She said opening the door, he told her to get in and she complied sliding into the comfortable seats. She turned to put Blaster in the back but was surprised to see Grimlock and Ratchet sitting there.

"What's going on?" She asked them setting Blaster down beside Ratchet. The medic was sitting rather uncomfortably in the back seat beside the larger dinosaur, he had his arms crossed over his chest and it reminded Penny of a child. Grimlock was lying down asleep he didn't seem to be doing a lot lately.

"Were going to collect parts for Hound" Ratchet stated sending a glare in the direction of the dinobot. Penny looked at Blaster confused as to why they had taken Grimlock with them; this caused Blaster to transform into his robot form and looked back equally confused.

"Buckle up Penny," Sparkplug said cheerfully, turning in her seat she snapped the belt into the plug adjusting it so it sat comfortably on her chest. If it was too low it would interfere with her ribs.

"If your wondering we brought the brute back there just in case we need some muscle, you should see who's in the trunk!" Sparkplug said laughing Grimlock rolled over and mumbled something his sleep, it was barely audible but obvious as to what he was saying.

"Me Grimlock no brute, me king"

"A Trailer? You rented a trailer?" Penny said in shock. They were standing outside of the dump, piles of metal, dark green bags, and who knows what else was past a chain link fence beside them. Sitting there in clear view was a large U-Haul trailer. Well, it wasn't that large because it needed to be attached to Sparkplug's small car but, still.

"Well how else did you expect me to bring the parts back? We are rebuilding an entire cybertronian you know." He said as another scruffy man in overalls helped him hook the trailer up to his car.

"A Cyber-what?" The man said rubbing his scruffy brown moustache and adjusting his glasses.

"Oh don't worry about it, just some teenager lingo," Sparkplug responded as the trailer made a satisfying click into the hitch that had been installed on the back of Sparkplugs car. Something shuffled around in the trunk when the car shook slightly from the new attachment. The man didn't seem to notice.

"Alright just get it back to the shop by tomorrow and you should be fine. Remember anything damages this baby and you pay for it," The man warned patting the trailer in such a way that it could be seen as affection. He then walked over to the side of the road and climbed into a small black car and drove off into the distance.

"Here let me pop the trunk" Sparkplug said inserting his key into the hole in the back of his car. The second the trunk was open even the slightest bit a large white robot jumped out of it stretching out his legs happily. He then sniffed the air and shook his head uncomfortably.

"Why is it everything you humans due has such an unpleasant sent to it?" The robot asked in a rather self righteous tone.

"Its nice to see you two Sky Linx" Penny responded finally speaking up. The fact Sparkplug had openly talked about Cybertronians like they were nothing managed to cause her to shut up for a bit. She was a lot more secretive about anything involving the autobots.

"Penny can you come here?" Ratchet asked after struggling to swing open the cars back door. Penny nodded and walked over. Kneeling down to eyes level she gave Ratchet a quizzing look.

"Whats up Ratch?" She asked him quietly allowing Sky Linx and Sparkplug to enter the dump to look for parts on their own. It bugged her slightly how this dump just happened to have no guards outside of it and how they were just being allowed to do what they wanted, but she had to let some things slip her mind or she'd go crazy. Right now the major concern was Hound, or so she thought,

"Its Grimlock, you've probably noticed he's been sleeping a lot." Ratchet started. The small metal dinosaur was lying beside him on the seat. Optics dark the normally loud Reptile barely murmured, the only sign of life being his whistled breathing.

"I knew this was going to happen soon but I didn't know how soon...You see Grimlock is getting too low on energon to continue his current normal functions" He finished patting the tyrannosaurus rex's snout resulting in no reaction.

"Ratchet that doesn't make any sense." Penny started scooping up Grimlock into her arms and holding him close.

"Grimlock hasn't been awake that long and he doesn't move very often. What could have caused him to burn through it?"

* * *

Look what I found in the back of my computer

I forgot I wrote this xD  
Well I do intend to continue this story now that I have the time to again :)  
So I hope you guys will stick with me through it!

Thanks for reading and please review!

-Whitestreak


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